


Silver and Gold Lanterns

by AriGolden



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Romance, Slash, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 10:12:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriGolden/pseuds/AriGolden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere between killing the Alpha and rebuilding his home Derek realizes he wants Stiles in his life. But Stiles has a secret, his bestfriend Scott's in love with the wolf hunter princess, and the towns getting more dangerous by the minute so he has no idea how he's going to make that happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Woof

"This is ridiculous," Stiles said aloud to his room.

He slumped in his chair exasperated and spun around. He looked at his clock, 1:45am it read, he had spent almost four hours doing research online. Just looking at his laptop made his head hurt now, but four nonstop hours with no breaks except for Coke would do that to a kid. Stiles rubbed his eyes. After four hours of researching werewolves he didn't even want to look at a dog. Glancing down at his notebook filled with his notes Stiles thought about everything he found. As with most topics the internet was filled to the brim with information on the supernatural creatures, how accurate everything was, well that was a serious issue.

'Hey if you put a T in front of issue it becomes tissue,' Stiles thought.

His Adderall was wearing off, he considered taking more but he was already at level of focus rivaling a crack head looking for their next hit. Chuckling at his own joke Stiles turned off his laptop and examined his notes for a second. Some of the facts seemed completely plausible in a world where werewolves existed, while the others ranged from contradicting to just ridiculous. All urban myths and legends were based off some truth, a real event that happened at some point in time that caused the story to be born into existence. As stories were passed from person to person and fear set in upon hearing about things one understandably couldn't comprehend upon hearing alone exaggeration took hold. The original facts were twisted into something unrecognizable. Stiles knew all of this, it was just a matter of gleaming out what of which he found had kept their integrity over the centuries.

"This would be so much easier if I had help," Stiles mumbled to himself.

He knew where he could get it, it was just a route he didn't want to travel. That was a problem for the morning though, eyes heavy Stiles decided he had lost enough sleep over his best friend's problems. Making his way to bed he was so tired he didn't even notice the figure standing across the street as he went to close his window.

*RIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG!*

"Oh man I failed another test!" Scott groaned sliding down in his chair. Stiles peaked over his friend shoulder, eyes going wide as he looked at the low score.  
"What am I gonna do? This is the third one this week. I'm failing nearly all my classes, at this rate I'll get kicked off the team, my mom's going to kill me," Scott went on.

"I wonder what shampoo Lydia uses, maybe it's like Garnier, or Tresemme. Mmm I bet she goes with a deep conditioner pack." Stiles said.

"What? Focus! How am I gonna fix this man?" Scott shot over his shoulder. Normally he was use to his friend's A.D.D fueled mouth spurts, but now was not the time.

"Huh? Oh yea that. Well for starters maybe when you hangout with Allison you could actually 'study' instead of making out then running away when your hormones almost kill her. Or you could ask Jackson to tutor you, he seems to have no problem juggling the whole sports/school thing. Maybe, stay with me here, maybe you could turn your training pow wows with Derek into a study group, he seems pretty smart. Either way you look at it Scotty you've got options. " Stiles smirked.

"Very funny," he best friend growled. He was doomed.

"Well I-"

"MR. STILINSKI! If you don't stop interrupting my class I will throw a beaker of chloric acid at your head." Mr. Harris said darkly. Stiles and Scoot both looked down at their desk.

School was out and the halls were filled with teenagers trying make their out to the parking lot to escape to anywhere but here. Stiles slung his backpack over his shoulder, hurriedly making his way outside.

"Hey where are you going?" Scott shouted after him.

"I gotta thing, gotta go!," Stiles threw over his shoulder still walking.

"Wait, what about practice? You can't just leave me here, Jackson and those other meatheads are definitely gonna be gunning for me. What if I lose control? I need you to back me up!"

Stiles turned around and walked up to his friend looking him in the eye.

"…..."

"…..."

"…..."

"Sti-"

"Don'tkillanyonegottagobye!" and Stiles walked off towards his Jeep.

"That dick!" Scott made his way down the hall to practice.

It was about a twenty minute drive to where he was headed. Stiles decided to use the time mentally preparing himself. Where he was going he definitely didn't want to be caught off guard. Bringing his Jeep to a stop he looked ahead at his destination, Derek Hale's house. Stiles got out the SUV and walked up to the burnt shamble in front of him.

"Hello?" he called out.

Derek has super sensitive wolf hearing right? He should know he was here. 'Maybe I should've brought Beggin Strips,' Stiles thought to himself as he looked around and saw no sign of Derek. Pushing his nervousness aside he walked up the stairs of the porch, making his way through the front door. Derek's house had always creeped him out. The charred remains gave it a feeling of desolation that on some level, not reserved for hating Derek, saddened him to his core. How could the other boy live here, where did he sleep, poop for christ sakes?

"He should rent this place out on Halloween," Stiles thought aloud.

"It'd be better than that house in Michael Jackson's - Ghost," came a voice from behind.

Stiles spun around in shock. There, at the top of the stairs, stood Derek Hale with a small smile on his face and what almost looked like a happy look in his eyes. Wait did he just say Derek and happy? Derek's expression shifted to its normal visage, almost as if he remembered where, no, who he was, and leapt from the top of the stairs.

"Why are you here?" Derek growled out.

'Well that was short lived,' Stiles sighed in his head.  
"Do you know any other expressions besides dark teen angst? I mean it's like watching an entire season of Degrassi play out on your face".

Derek's eyebrows shot up. "I'm about two seconds from tearing off your face. Answer me. Why are you here Stiles? You and Scott decide to frame me for more murders?"

He stalked towards the younger boy.

"Heel! I didn't say that. Maybe I did. Ok focus." Stiles was getting frantic.

The werewolf watched in wonderment as the boy in front of him simultaneously has a conversation with him and his self.

"I was doing some weresearch last night and I found a lot of interesting stuff, but I need to know what's true or not. Normally I'd be perfectly fine on my own but since this falls into the mythical creatures category, well formerly mythical creatures, I need your expertise," Stiles told him.

Derek pondered over what he just heard, shouldn't Scott be here? Shouldn't he be the one staying up all night researching his gift, instead of doing who knows what? Stiles was an admirable friend to go through all this trouble for the young wolf. Even to come here, the burned down house of dark mysterious Derek Hale, was either brave or stupid. Sure they had their interactions, but they weren't exactly the friendliest, mostly thanks to his own gruff attitude.

There was a long silence, Derek was just staring at him with his usual intense look, the one that was right around the corner from angry man-wolf fangs in his face. Stiles was starting to grow uneasy under the scrutiny. Coming here might not have been his best idea of the month. He needed to get things moving again.

"I mean if that's ok with you," Stiles said meekly.

Derek snapped out of his thoughts.  
"Fine, as long as it's nothing extra stupid." He turned and walked into a room off from the staircase and sat in a chair.

Stiles followed, sitting on the couch and pulling his notebook out his backpack. "Ok so what first? Umm, I know, this one! Can werewolves control other animals?" Stiles asked.

"To a point. We can exert dominance over them, we're predators after all." Derek answered.

"Kind of like how the Alpha can control Scott, he's top dog, wolf, huh, ok. Next, does silver hurt you guys? Cause I saw this lovely necklace at Tiffa-"

"NOT like you think," Derek cut him off before his rant gained momentum, "It doesn't burn our skin or anything, in fact it actually helps us in a way. Silver dulls our senses, subdues the inner wolf. If Scott got mad at your inability to shut the hell up for instance and started to shift, ready to rip your throat out, if he were wearing something like a silver bracelet he could focus on it, and it would help him stop his shift, not killing you. Our blood though has an allergic reaction to silver, and a wound or cut made by the stuff hurts three times more then it should." 

"Kind of like bleach, it makes you look cool on the outside but not so great for the inside, noted. Ok, can you guys control your victims with pheromones, to like lure them in or something?"

"No, but we can smell them at times."

"Like you'd need pheromones to get a chick into all that Hale." Derek stared him down, he didn't notice the small smile on his lips.  
"Umm moving, on, I thought this one was weird but cute." Derek groaned at the mention of the word 'cute'.

"Can you be turned into a werewolf if you're bitten by a wolf pup on a full moon?"

"What? No! That's a stupid question. What did I say about stupid questions?" Derek was leaning forward in his chair.

"So what you don't like puppies?" Stiles questioned back.

"I never said that, I just said that was a stupid question."

"Puppy hater!"

"I never sa-"

"Honestly who hates puppies?"

"Get out!" Derek jumped to his feet.

"But I still have more questions!" Stiles was trying to figure out how to save the situation.

"Too bad, we’re done here. Now go." Unsavable.

Stiles clutched his backpack and notebook and hurriedly made his way out the door, Derek pushing him out. Reaching for the car handle Stiles face lit up with a new thought. "Derek one more question, when you cum on a chick do you say 'I make it Hale!'?"

"GO!" Derek bellowed.

Stiles jumped in his car and drove away as fast as he could. Once the Jeep was out of sight Derek let out a breath of laughter, thinking over everything the other boy had said while he was there. He had enjoyed the visit far more than he was able to let on. Stiles was definitely something else and he knew he'd see him again soon. Having taken care of everything he needed to take care of at the home before Stiles came he no longer had a reason to stay. He could go follow leads on the Alpha.  
"No one hates puppies Stiles," Derek said to himself, and headed into the woods.


	2. Bang Bang

Sheriff Stilinski was exausthed. He had been out doing late night patrols twelve nights in a row, thirteen as of now. It was 2a.m, well past the time most criminals in Beacon Hills did their nightly rounds. He was looking for one criminal in particular though, one Derek Hale. The road layout before him, lazily passing by as he worked over what information he had. Thanks to his son's bestfriend he finally had a face to add onto all these crimes. Wether or not he believed the accusations was a different story. What man would bifuricate their own sister? It sounded demented even for the demented, but it was something to work with. He could sort out the fine details later, Derek was the key to figuring out some big answers now.

'The kid may look like a lost member of the Jersey Shore, but I don't think he fist pumped up all this trouble, if he were orange, now that would be a different story,' the Sheriff rambled in his head to keep himself awake.

'Scott didn't exactly seem too sure when he accused the man of murder, and Stiles? Stiles didn't seem too motivated either, he's always ready to jump information to get involved in police cases. He barely twitched, and my boy can twitch. Somethings up. I hate to say this about my own son and his bestfriend, but maybe they're hiding something, or maybe they're onto something they haven't quite figured out. Lying and hiding it would seem easier. I was sixteen once, I had crabs, I know what it's like. Why frame Derek in the meantime though? The man's sister was in half, seemed kind of rude.'

The turns in the road recaptured his attention span.

For all Sheriff Stilinski knew Derek was behind the murders. Wasn't that the whole reason he was out doing these patrols instead of staying home with his son? Because even if he didn't think Scott was being completely truthful he still thought there was a possibility this was all Derek's doing. The only reason he doubted it at all, despite the incriminating evidence, was that the first time the boys tried to frame the man for murder, well, it was a hit and a miss.

There weren't many cars out around this time of night. In fact most of Beacon Hills was quiet, even the dispatchers were sitting bored at their desk. Any other time he would just take it home, but Derek's accused cimes didn't exactly follow the usual Hills crook time schedule so he mustered on.

'Mustard goes great with pretzels. Man does it go great. Oh no,' the Sheriff thought, 'No no no no no, I'm so tired I'm thinking like Stiles.' He groaned, massaging his forehead.

"Gotta keep it together," he mumbled, and surveyed the land around him.

Both sides of the road were filled with trees, and if he focused close the Sheriff could see the eyes of deer and fox glinting against the moonlight as he drove past. He still had around thirty minutes on this road until the turn that would bring him back in a loop. His coffee had run out an hour ago so he needed to keep his mind active to stay awake. He was thinking hard about who his other culprit might be if it weren't Derek Hale.

'Argent,' was the only other guess he could come up with.

The murders didn't seem to start until the family came back to town, and they didn't seem to keep the best company. Also they were arms dealers, so they had the weapons and the know how. Then there was that Kate bitch, she was just kinky and twisted, she reminded him of Angelina Jolie. He was willing to bet money she and her brother did the nasty from time to time. In fact if he thought about it Chris Argent kind of looked like a pretty hillbilly to him, the only thing missing was a piece of wheat between his teeth. It wasn't really to hard to picture.

"Alli-Sue go on and git down here!" Chris Argent hook his thumbs behind the straps of his overalls and stood at the bottom of the staircase.

"Imma comin daddy!" a voice called back.

"Now Chris don't you making a that there fuss at that girl, she just got home from schoolin and I want her to rest up right nice," his wife wagged her finger at him.

"I'm here daddy. Whatchu done want?" Allison stood at the top of the stairs. She was present in a pair of Huck Finns, a red plaid shirt, and barefoot, with pigtails hanging at her sides. She looked like a field beauty.

"I went and forgot, but anyway when you're all set we're gonna go outback and hunt us up some dinner baby girl. I'll even let you have swing at that M-4 assualt rifle I was saving for your birthday. Hell it's great for shooting critters!" Mr. Argent hooted.

"Sure enough daddy you're just the best. Imma go whip you up some moonshine!" Allison bounded away.

"Moonshine? Well YEEHAWW!" Chris shouted and shot his pistol off in the air.

"Oh dear god!" Sheriff Stilinski cringed at the scene he just saw in his head. Thanks to the sleep exhaustion his mind had definitely entered Stiles territory. The Argents were high on his list of possible suspects, they had the weapons, and probably the know how. Chris Argent was just a handsome face with a lot of fire power afterall, but in the meantime he'd think about something else for now.

Derek trailed behind the Sheriff as stealthily as he could. His all black Camarro was virtually invisible in the dark, and with his enhanced eyes he didn't need his headlights to see. He had been trailing the Sheriff most of the night. Derek knew exactly what lurked in these forest and even though the man wanted him for murder he had to keep him safe. He couldn't forgive himself if something happened to Stiles father. Stiles wouldn't forgive him.

He had just accepted the fact that he liked the other boy a few weeks ago. Even though he didn't know what to do with that information he wasn't about to let something like an alpha attack killing the boy's father ruin his chances before they started. Started? First he had figure if there was even a possibility Stiles was into other men before he could start anything. For now he would just do what he could, which included keeping Stiles out of trouble, safe from Scott, and making sure his father didn't get hurt because of problems he hadn't dealt with yet. Sadly the last one sounded the most easy, the first two? Not so much.

"Goddammit!" Derek swore as he saw the Sheriff's care start to veer off the road. It snapped back into place, a sign that the man was still conscious, but starting to fall asleep.

He needed him to turn around and go home now or all his plans would be ruined.

"How am I supposed woo your son, win his heart, take him home, marry him, and live happily ever after if you kill yourself?" Derek ignored everything he just yelled as he pulled over to the side of the road. He had to take action or he'd be pulling the other man out a carwreck. He parked his car, shifted into his wolf form, and took off through the trees.

Scaring the man was his best option. Stiles' dad was already half asleep, so his plan would work easily, just pop out, give him a fright, and problem solved. He would just think he was seeing things from the lack of sleep. That's what Derek was betting on, but the man had a gun, he just hoped the Sheriff didn't overreact.

Derek's legs were working overtime trying to get ahead of the police car, luckily the other man had been keeping a very slow pace at around 20mph. His chest filled with glee as he saw his opening ahead, a wide bend. He just had to get there before the cruiser, and his plan would be perfection. Fangs and claws at the ready he got there just a few seconds before and went into position.

Sheriff Stilinski had been going over his grocery list in his head when he came upon the bend.

'Eggs, chicken, pepperoni, mice. What? That's not righ-'

As soon as the car's headlights hit him Derek let out his deepest, most feral roar.

"AHHHHHH!" Sheriff Stilinski screamed and swearved away from what he just saw. Heart beating frantically he sat in the car with his gun at the ready in case whatever it was came back. He swore he had just seen what looked like a wolfman ready to eat him when he came around the bend. There was no way he could've seen what he just saw.

'Maybe these late night patrols are doing more harm then good,' he sighed.

Coming to reason he realized he needed to head home, the lack of sleep was starting to effect him worse and worse.

'First Hillbilly Power Hour, now leather clad wolfmen?'

He calmed down, confident nothing was going to lunge out after him, and turned back onto the road driving straight past the tucked away Camarro at double the speed he started.

Derek sighed with relief. The plan had worked perfectly. Sheriff Stilinksi was tired enough to think he was just a figment of his sleep starven imagination, and the adrenaline rush would keep him going until he made it safely home. Derek couldn't help laughing. He had just scared the most respected man in town into turning tail and heading home. The scream was a nice touch too.

"Man it's good to be a wolf," Derek laughed as he walked back towards his car.


	3. Secrets Better Kept

Stiles was gettting impatient. He had told Scott to meet him in the woods twenty minutes ago. The other boy was still nowhere to be found. In the back of his mind he already knew the reason, he was just mentally preparing himself to deal with the excuses.

'The guy can jump off buildings, tear through steel, and grow killer sideburns in two seconds, but he can't make it a priority to show up on time? It's like he runs on Filipino time...Time, rhyrme, mime, lime.'

He was so busy fuming in his head that he didn't hear the sound of leaves rustling as someone dashed across the forest floor.

"Dude I'm so sorry I'm late! I was with Allison, and I lost track of time. Sorry man," Scott huffed out as he ran up to Stiles.

'I knew it,' Stiles' mental eyeroll was so profound it became physical, 'Allison'.

"Well I'm glad you could spare a second of swimming in Allison's vagina to come," Stiles drawled out sarcastically.

Scott, who was bent over catching his breath snapped his head up in anger.

"Hey, she's still my girlfriend!" he ground out.

"Heel!" Stiles said as he held his hands up in defeat.

'But seriously, her jeans are so tight it's like she's breeding gonorhea in there. I hope Scotts getting tested. Wait he's a werewolf, maybe he has to go to the vet. Do I have to take him to the vet? Is he even registered? I'm going to jail!' Stiles was giggling to himself.

"STILES! Why are we here?" Scott yelled, snapping his friend out his reverie.

"Oh right, yea," Stiles put his hands down.

He walked over to the tree where he placed his backpack and started rummaging. His talk with Derek last week had been really infomational, and Stiles planned to put that information to good use. Thanks to the older werewolf he had learned a lot, even if he didn't get all his questions answered. Now he just had to apply it to real life situations. He figured this first test was as good a place to start as any.

"So I talked to Derek last week-" Stiles began.

"You talked to Derek?" Scott stared at him, a face of shock.

"Yes Rudeness, I talked to Derek, not like you're exactly texting him back and forth to help you with your wolfy problems. Ahah!" Stiles exclaimed as he found what he was looking for. He held up his find for Scott to see.

Scott examined the item in his friend's hand. It was a silver band, very thin and smooth. Stiles had bought it from Tiffany's last week, it had cost him a fair amount, but he figured if this had any chance to work they would need quality. When he had bought the bracelet the sales lady had asked him all kinds of questions about a girlfriend, making him leave the store gagging.

"Soooo you talked to Derek and learned he likes shiny things."

Stiles considered slapping his bestfriend.

"No you idiot. Look at it, what's it made of?" he handed the band to Scott.

Scott stared down at it.

"Silver. Silver! Isn't silver bad for werewolves? Stiles are you trying to kill Derek?" Scott shouted horrified.

"Your mother must be so proud of the progress you've made through life."

Scott frowned at his friends comment.

"While I was talking to Derek I found out that silver serves two purposes, both good and bad. Sure if this were a silver knife instead of a lovely bracelet and I stabbed you with it, it would hurt like hell. Apparently your blood has an allergic reaction to the stuff. But if you wearing it, the bracelet, not the knife, it's supposed to help you stay in control," Stiles explained to him.

"How?" Scott asked. He was still grasping the whole werewolf thing, but this almost sounded like a way out.

"According to Derek it dulls you senses, brings them back down a few notches, and makes it harder to shift. He said if you focus on it you should be able to stop from wolfing out. I guess the stuff can absorb you anger or something." Stiles watched his friend think over what that meant.

"So that means-"

"Yup, no more hearing everything within a 2 mile radius, no more flinching cause someone slammed their locker too hard, covering your nose because Sally farted on the other side of school, no more near murder attempts cause someone-"

"I can sleep with Allison!" Scott exclaimed.

Stiles took a moment to mentally shoot himself.

"Umm, Stiles?" Scott was shifting uncomfortably waiting for his friend to come back to focus. 'Did he take his Adderall today?' he wondered.

"Lets move along shall we?" Stiles said, regaining himself.

"Ok how's this gonna work?" Scott asked, he couldn't wait for this to be a success. If it worked he had a chance at being a normal teenager again. Stiles heard it from Derek, it had to work, Derek wouldn't give him false information. At least he hoped he wouldn't.

"First I want you to focus, take account of everything you can feel and smell right now. Remember it, gauge it. Then put the bracelet on, and see if there's any difference at all from a second ago." Stiles hoped this worked.

Scott did as Stiles instructed. He stood in the middle of the clearing and took a deep breath, taking account of everything he could sense. He could smell all the smells of the forest, the leaves on the ground giving off a slight scent of decay, the trails from other animals that had passed, he could hear Stiles heart beat, breathing, bugs crawling around them.

'Wait, that's not Stiles' breathing' he thought, but as he slipped on the bracelet he was too stunned to remember what he had noticed. The moment he slipped the bracelet on it was like he'd been cut off from everything. The forest just smelt like the forest, he couldn't smell all the individual things he had before. Stiles was just Stiles, he couldn't hear his heart beat, or smell his deoderant mixed with his cologne.

"Woah," was all Scott could manage to say.

"So did it work?" Stiles watched his friend curiously.

"Dude this is AMAZING! I feel normal again! I can't hear or smell anything I'm not supposed to. This is great!" Scott was stunned.

"Stiles you're a genius!"

"I know, but there's still one more test we have to do."

Derek was making his way through the forest looking for clues. He had ventured pretty deep in, he was somwhere by the highschool now. He was hoping he could pick up a scent connected to the Alpha to help him figure out who he was in human form. Picking up the other wolf's scent hadn't been hard, but there were no human scent's mixed around. He was ready to quit and try another route until his nose caught something familiar. It was Scott & Stiles.

'What are those two idiots up to?'

Derek followed the scent until he came across the two in a clearing up ahead. He didn't want them to spot him just yet. Scott was inexperienced enough that he didn't have to worry about him hearing or smelling him come up, and with all the space in between the trees he could more than see what he needed with his wolf eyes. Curious he decided to listen.

So they were out here to help Scott control himself with silver. Smart choice, it would probably help the kid a lot. Sure he should've been the one to explain this time, but he had other things on his plate to worry about.

"Your mother must be so proud of the progress you've made through life."

He had to cover his mouth with his sleeve to contain his laughter as he overheard Stiles insult his friend's intelligence. 'Stiles' should do stand-up' he thought. When it wasn't directed at him he thought the other's sarcasm was perfectly on point.

Focusing back to the conversation up ahead he nodded in approval as Stiles explained the properites of silver well. He laughed again when he saw Stiles go blank as his best friend simplified all the benefits their test could hold for him. Derek couldn't blame him though, even if he carried on like a total dick towards the younger wolf he could still remember what it was like to be sixteen.

Watching closely he saw Scott take in his surroundings, sensing what he could.

'Crap he's gonna notice me,' just as Derek saw Scott's ears flicker in his direction and he got ready to move he saw Scott instantly relax has he slipped on the silver. He was revelling in his dulled senses. He knew the feeling all to well.

"There's still one more test we have to do. We have to see if it can help you control your shift," he heard Stiles say. Derek tensed, this was the moment of truth, he focused on them intensely.

"Ok, how do we do that?" Scott asked.

"Well Derek said you could "focus" on the silver to stop your shift. Can you feel the silver on you in anyway, besides just wearing it?"

Scott closed his eyes to see, and realised he could.

"Yea, I can. Around the bracelet it feels, cool, like everything around it kinda gets sucked in, it's weird." Scott explained.

"Good, we can work with that. Now get angry, like you're trying to shift and focus that anger into the band, it should absorb your anger and calm your ass down." Stiles took a step back.

'This has to work,' Scott pleaded to himself. He remembered what Derek taught him, and felt for his anger. The moment he tapped into it he felt it explode and take hold of him. His vision tinted red, he saw Stiles oberserving. He went back to what his friend had just said and tried to focus the anger pouring out of him into that cool place he had felt. It was working! He could feel the anger rapidly flowing into the silver band on his wrist. It just disappeared into the coolness of it. He just had to wait for his anger to subside and he could celebrate! However, he quickly realised it wasn't stopping. The anger was still surging, more was coming than he could push into the silver against his skin. As he felt his canine's grow and sharpen Scott felt dread creep behind his rage.

'Oh no, i'm losing it! Stiles has to run.'

'Aww shit,' Derek cursed to himself, he should've realised it sooner. Scott still had little control over his anger, that small amount of silver wouldn't be enough to contain it. He had to regulate his flow of anger into an amount the silver could handle or else it wouldn't dissapate fast enough before new anger was piled on top of it, overpowering the mineral. Even he would have trouble that small band, he wore two rings on his left hand to help him control his urge.

"Sc-Scott? Focus buddy," Stiles gulped as he saw Scott's feature's begin to change.

'It's not working. Why isn't it working?'

Panic was setting in. He looked at the band on his friends wrist, willing it to work. As he looked he saw red cracks appear on it's surface, as if it were burning hot, then suddenly the whole thing splintered and burst into a thousand fragments. Scott growled and crouched down.

'Fuck,' he thought to himself. He was best friend was about to try to kill him, again.

Derek heard the bracelet burst, like he feared it would. He saw Scott crouch into his predatory stance, preparing to attack Stiles. He was too far away, by the time he could shift and dash to Stiles it was certain Scott would have already taken a strike at his friend.

'NO!' Derek screamed in his head, voice unable to surface.

Scott growled and let loose a lightning swipe at his friend, aiming for Stiles' throat.

Pooft

Derek blinked. He wasn't sure if he could believe what he just saw. One minute he saw Stiles standing there, frozen as his best friend was about to rip out his throat, the next he was behind Scott.

The teen wolf stood there, confused, his pray was there one second, now it had vanished. Before he could go to search his body exploded in pain and he hit the ground.

Derek was stunned as he saw Stiles deliver an elbow between Scott's shoulder blades, flooring the wolf. Sure it would be ok if he had seen Stiles duck and roll behind the werewolf, but he hadn't even seen that. There was no movement, at all, he was just there, and then he wasn't. Derek's emotions switched from worried to angry, he wanted answers.

"Ooooh," Scott groaned as he got up, returned to human form.

"What happened, are you ok man? Why do I feel like I got hit by a house?" he asked as he remembered what happened.

"Umm, I'm fine, you went all wolf mode and came at me but I ducked behind you and hit you with a rock," Stiles said hurridly hoping his friend would buy his excuse.

"Oh no I'm so sorry man. Why didn't the silver work?" Scott groaned, still taking in the pain from his back, he didn't notice there were no large rocks around.

"I don't know bro, but you go home and take care of that back, I'll be fine here, I just need to recuperate. You know, near death and all. I'll call you later."

"Alright," Scott said as he trudged home, feeling guilty for putting Stiles' life in danger.

"That, was too close," Stiles sighed releaved. Scott had come very close to finding out his secret. He hated to be so careless, but he had no other choice. He was about to grab his things and get ready to head home when he heard a growl behind him.

'Oh no, Scott must've come back.'

Before he could prepare himself he was thrown up against a tree, with Derek Hale growling at his throat like a hell hound.

"What just happened?" Derek spat out.

"Uh uh, you attacked me?" Stiles struggled to say against the iron grip.

"No, you know what I'm talking about. .You?" Derek said through his teeth slowly so that Stiles could understand every word.

"Scared. Confused. Nervous. Aroused. Did I distract you with that last one? Cause you don't look distracted," Stiles rambled, trying to diffuse the situation.

Derek slammed him against the tree.

"Has anyone ever told you you look like Simon Cowell?"

Derek slammed him again.

"Billy Ray Cyrus?"

Derek's eyes narrowed. Stiles gulped. He was sure what would come next was far worse than his skull hitting the tree.

"I saw what you did. I saw you take out Scott. So start spitting out answers before I start spitting out pieces of you." Derek leaned closer and let his fangs grow.

Stiles was more scared for his life than a teenage girl was for Justin Bieber's career. Derek had saw, he'd seen what he had done. No excuse he could make would take away from the fact that Derek had seen him use his pwoers with his own eyes. There was no way around it, the man was literally at his throat. He had to tell Derek the truth, he just hopped he wouldn't try to rip him to shreds afterwards.

Derek was having trouble controlling his anger. All this time Stiles had been meddling in werewolf affairs, getting in trouble, asking questions, supposedly helping him, he'd been hiding secrets of his own. How was he to still be trusted? For all he knew the boy beneath him might be working with the Hunters.

"I'm a Nephilim," Stiles said.

It was like a bazooka had shot Derek down out of his thoughts. 'What did Stiles just say?'

"A what?"

"A Nephilim. Neph. Lemm," Stiles returned slowly, "but I prefer the term faerie."

"What the fuck? Why?" he pushed Stiles harder into the tree behind him.

Stiles was starting to get tired of the rough handling. He took a breath so he could explain.

"Because technically I'm a descendant of a Nephilim which makes me a lesser being. Which, therefore in my race, is considered a faerie."

"So what you can all disappear or some shit?" Now Derek had even more questions, and he was determined to get answers.

"No, every faerie has different powers. Mine is just I can teleport. Can you let me down now?" Stiles was getting very tired of the manhandling. While he was glad Derek was taking it better than he expected he had hoped he would at least loosen his grip from shock. Still he felt more at ease now. He had never told anyone else his secret, even Scott, he had been too afraid of the reaction, the dangers. He knew he should probably tell Scott, seeing as now he had powers of his own, but it was just easier to keep doing what he had been doing.

"Where you ever going to tell me? How many of there are you? What else can you do?" Derek yelled at him.

Stiles had enough.

Pooft.

Derek stared at his empty hands, Stiles was gone.

"Omphf!" he grunted as he was body checked into the tree he had just had Stiles up against.

"I'm a supernatural just like you Derek. Don't be overdramatic," Stiles said. He watched Derek slide down the tree and pull himself up off the ground.

Derek brushed himself off, he was furious. "Does Scott even know?"

"Nope, and you better keep it that way. So are we cool now? I know your secret, and you know mine." Stiles stared him down.

"Whatever," he still couldn't believe what he had heard.

Stiles smirked and disappeared. Derek huffed.

"Oh, and Derek? If you tell anyone about this I'll make sure you overdose on fairy dust. Think of it like pure columbian, only gayer."

Pooft.

By the time he had swung around Stiles was gone. Derek yelled, letting out his anger and pummeling the tree trunk in front of him. Not only was the guy he liked a supernatural, he was a teleporting faerie, who went 'Poof'.

Derek groaned and hung his head.

"My life."


	4. Life Imitating Wolfsbane

After clicking out of another dead end link Derek held his head and let out a groan. He had been up almost all night looking on any information that might help him figure his latest problem out. A problem named Stiles Stilinski. Ever since he had forced Stiles to come out to him about what he really was Derek's head had been exploding with questions. Questions that he was having way too much trouble getting answered. Derek groaned again.

'Speaking of coming out.'

He laid back on his bed, arms resting behind his head stretching the grey beater he wore tight. Derek had been trying to fight his inner feelings for months now, and now that he knew Stiles secret he felt even more drawn in. He was something that needed to be unravelled, understood, appreciated, dominated. Derek could do all those things, but at the same time he couldn't do any.

He couldn't help the hopelessness he felt when he let his guard down and actually let himself embrace how he felt about Stiles. There was no doubting he liked the kid, he was beautiful, but he couldn't let himself take that step forward. Feeling those type of feelings again was something he resigned himself to years ago. It was a known fact that anyone he fell for was a thunderous, crazy bitch. The last time he chanced it, on a fiery blond bombshell who took his breath away, despite lacking his usual necessary requirements between her legs, he ended up an orphan with barely any remaining family to speak of. It was just him and Laura. He was hallowed. He swore he could trust Kate, no one had ever gotten past Derek's instinct. She was only human and look at the damage she had done, now he was falling for a faerie? He could only image. He didn't want to take the chance again, with no family left he didn't know what this next time would take from him. It still didn't stop him from doing foolish things, like standing outside of Stiles' house at night.

He remembered just standing there, looking up into the light of Stiles' open window. Stiles was busy, Derek could hear him, his heightened hearing painted him pictures. He was moving, he was typing, he was drinking. It was the middle of the night and the boy had so much energy. He wanted so bad to just jump through the window. He didn't know exactly what would happen after that, but at least they'd be in the same room. Stiles would probably curse, attack him with Skittles, Derek would frown, threaten to rip his throat out. Wishful thinking.

Derek's ears twitched. The music, there was always fucking music playing, and as if his room were a Japanese karaoke bar, Stiles loved to sing along. Over the course of the time he stood out there Derek heard Stiles proclaim how "basic bitches wear that shit", so he doesn't even bother, that he didn't want "no scrub", whatever that was, and something about how he couldn't speak German, but he could, if he liked. Most of the songs Derek didn't really mind, the kid liked lots of different things, but if he played that song about the days of the week and where to sit one more time he swore to God he would have jumped through that window and smashed his MacBook. It was the only sane thing to do.

He was fine standing there outside of Stile's window, listening to him and the music, but there was one song that almost made him give up everything and just leave without coming back. He wasn't really paying attention when it struck him to his core.

"Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes" he heard Stiles say before he played the track, like to him it was a new discovery.

The folkish beat draw him in and the singer's voices perked up his ears, and then he listened to the words. He couldn't help it, standing out there, with no one around, he dreamed. He pictured his life as those words, he pictured him and Stiles driving down the road laughing and singing the words to each other. He was Jade, and Stiles was Alexander, oddly enough. He was happy, nothing else mattered. The emotions left his eyes watery and gave his body an ache. As much as he scowled and threatened and pushed and shoved at him to drive him away a part of his body yearned to be by Stiles' side.

'I yearn for him? What the fuck? Augh!"

Angry at himself Derek jumped off the bed and launched his laptop at the wall. He needed to drive these soft feelings out and breaking something was the perfect cure. Knowing the hardware was in a thousand pieces gave him instant relief.

"Fuck this pansy shit."

It was time for him to get ready to go meet Scott and Stiles. They agreed to meet later today to discuss Scott's training and what to do about dealing with the Alpha. Well more like Derek forcibly told them to meet him, but same difference. He wondered if he could convince Stiles to tell Scott about his abilities. Fighting the Alpha would be so much easier if Stiles would stop hiding it.

'Scott's his best friend there shouldn't be a problem! Now that Scott's a werewolf they should be sharing that shit like girls share fucking tampons.'

Derek ground his teeth. Most of his recent conversations with Stiles hadn't been going too well. Ever since he had told Derek about his powers he had no problem using them to avoid him. Every time he had cornered the other boy to try and get some answers he simply teleported away, leaving Derek standing there. It was the only reason he had been searching for answers on Web. Now he was the one doing Internet research, it was ironic, but if he couldn't get them from Stiles than they had to come elsewhere, but it wasn't working out so well. He barely knew more then he did last week with, Stiles only giving up small bits of info before he poofed. There was no way tell when he was about to go either, his body didn't give off a thing. He was just there, then gone. The only way Derek could get Stiles to stay long enough to give up answers was through bribery or distraction. He remembered an incident a few days ago when he combined the two and showed up with Stiles' favorite ice cream. He had managed a whole ten minutes.

Stiles was walking down the hall of the school after hours, most of the other students gone. He was nearly to the exit when Derek slid in front of him from the hall on the left, bringing him near heart attack.

"Jesus Derek, what are you doing here?"

"I just want to talk."

Stiles was still clutching his chest and hadn't noticed what he was holding.

"Well maybe I don't wanna ta- Wahh, woah. Woah woah. Is that, is that a Gotta Have It of ColdStone Cake Batter Ice Cream with caramel?"

Derek shrugged, "It might be."

Stiles mouth was hung open as he eyed the cup in his hands.

"Are you gonna eat tha-" Stiles cleared his throat and starred at Derek with narrowed eyes, "What do you want?"

"Answers."

"Fine, ask."

"Who else knows what you are?"

Derek handed over the cup and Stiles went to work.

"My dad. OH MY GOD you even got the marshmallows and graham cracker crust!" Stiles was in heaven.

"Is he a nephilim too?"

"No, it wub my mawm. Oh dis is sho good." Stiles crooned through a mouthful of cake batter.

"How often can you use your powers?"

"Oh my gawd. Ooooh! Whenever I want. Sho goood."

"Do you have limits?"

"Well yea. It's commected to my motabowlism. Mmmmm, ohhho. Like if my bawdys in good shape an I eat a good meal I can tweleport all day-Oh ooh the marshmallows, come to me marshmallows-but if i'm rumming low on fuel-oh yes, caramel- then each tweleport starts to wear me down mmmm. And if I my bawdy's too hurt I can't do it at all. This is shoo good in my mouth!"

This was getting difficult. While Derek was glad Stiles had stayed and answers his questions, he wasn't glad for the effect this conversation was having on him. Stiles' ice cream eating habits were more like a How-To-Use-Your-Mouth tutorial. He was kissing and wrapping his lips around the spoon, bringing them slowly up and down. Using slow, precise flicks his tongue teased the frostiness into place. The ice cream had gone soft, and the gooey white substance easily folded around his tongue and melted in his mouth as he caressed it back and forth. The sounds coming out the boy's mouth were practically coated in sex. It was too much. Derek didn't want this distraction to make him lose his chance for answers, but a certain part of him disagreed. This was turning him on. He started to sweat.

"Wh-When you're hurt does your body heal? When you're hurt I mean."

"I lub dis ice cweam. Lub, lub, lub. No. Oh yess! No, I mean no, we I don't, at least I don't. I've habbent met a faerie who heals the way you're thinking, we heal like hubans, unless its their power. This is gonna go straight to my hips but I don't care!" Stiles could barely think through his sugary love affair.

"What can you do as race?" The fact they couldn't heal like werewolves was starting to diminish them as a threat for Derek, but he still needed to know as much as he could.

"Fight. Model. Dance. Wait, how did you know my favorite ice cream, and toppings?"

"Don't worry about it! What do you mean by-"

"Oh look ice creams gone." Stiles frowned.

"WAIT!"

Pooft

And Stiles was gone.

"Shit! I knew I should've gotten the fucking tub. Fuck!"

That had been an awkward day, but at least he'd gotten more out of Stiles than a sentence. Derek walked by the wall and saw his laptop still in one piece, it had survived his self therapy.

"Fucking Toshiba!"

He grabbed his keys and jacket and headed out the door.

Stiles and Scott had only been at the place a of couple minutes before Derek. Their meet-up spot was a large abandoned concrete building in Downtown Beacon Hills. The inside was full of stone chunks and there were columns everywhere, but it was tucked away, which was important. The two were just standing around waiting when he walked up. Derek could sense Scott's attitude from a mile away.

"Derek what are we doing here?" Scott asked exasperatedly.

'Does this kid ever talk without a whine?' Derek groaned mentally

"Sup your wolfiness," Stiles said with a smirk.

Derek eyed him cautiously. With Scott there he was acting as if nothing changed. This would be interesting.

"Hey Derek. Derek. We don't speak scowl," Stiles said at the older werewolf's quietness.

Derek ignored him and turned straight to Scott.

"Have you been controlling yourself? Your senses, the anger?" Derek gruffed out.

"Yea without much help from you!" was Scott's reply.

'Ingrate whelp.'

Stiles felt the beginnings of a fight brewing between the two wolfs, and stepped in.

"Actually dude it's been a big help from him. He told me about the whole silver thing. Something you kinda should've asked him yourself." Stiles rolled his eyes at the death glare Scott was turning on him.

"But if he had told you how much we needed then I wouldn't have attacked you and almost ripped you to shreds!" Scott argued.

"Like you could," Stiles mumbled.

"Huh?"

'Oh shit, wolf hearing. I forgot.' Stiles worked in a save.

"Look, sure he left out some important details that we could of used, but I think Wolf Vader here has more than made it up, and in quite a stylish way I might add." Stiles was referring the the silver anklets Derek had given Scott to wear. Two high quality chains that rested around his ankles, they were slightly large in size and were more than enough to help keep himself in check. They even connected together to form a necklace Scott could wear under his pads during lacrosse practice.

He was apprehensive when he originally found the gifts on his bed. The first few days he kept them hidden under jeans despite the heat, and just spent the days enjoying the normality. Stiles however took an instant liking the jewelry, calling them "bad ass". Scott wasn't sure if that's how he felt about them personally, but his best friend told him to "own that shit" and that's exactly what he did. Showing up to school the next day in shorts with anklets in full view the co-lacrosse captain was nervous about what everyone would say, but the other teens took to the accessories like diabetics on a sugar cleanse. Everyone thought they were "cool" and "original", even Allison seemed a little jealous. Then on the second day Stiles fitted him with his precious Ray-Ban Wayfarers and it was like a collective status explosion. He felt his social star starting to shine even brighter. Scott's anger towards Derrick deflated. Stiles had pretty much demolished his validity for it so he would listen to what the other wolf had to say.

Derek silently thanked Stiles for the diffusion. He didn't come here to fight, but he would kick some wolf pup ass if needed.

"If you can operate on a higher level dulled, then you'll be better at it during your shifts, so don't get complacent. Keep working on controlling your senses and anger. The silvers only an aide, not a quick fix."

'Like Viagra!' Stiles giggled to himself.

"I trust you're not staying away from Allison like I told you," Derek said, all sarcasm.

"Well I can't just walk away from her after everything! I'm in love with her. I can control this," Scott tried to plead his case. Derek had stop caring awhile ago. It was obvious Scott wouldn't see reason until a crossbow was pointed in front of is face.

"You're two inch dick is going to get us all killed."

"I won't let that happen! I'm going to find the Alpha, kill the stupid thing and go back to being human so I can be with Allison, and you're going to help me Derrek since your uncle put me in this mess."

"You know Allison already knows you're a werewolf right? I mean she has to. She's already put a leash and collar on you and fed you from her bowl, and by bowl I mean vagina."

"Shut up Stiles!" Scott didn't need his friends jokes right now.

"Hey, i'm just saying," Stiles put up his hands in surrender. "Vagina."

Derek spoke up.

"Whatever. Look Scott, we need all the help we can get to fight the Alpha. Even before he went crazy my uncle was a cunning man. With four times the wolf strength as an Alpha now he's just fucking dangerous. We can't just run to the Argents and ask them for their help. Even if they did realize they can't take him alone the moment we finish him off they'll come straight for us to finish the job. You and I aren't cutting it. We need help we can at least semi-trust, do you understand?" Derek oozed dominance. Even without the leather jacket and 5 o'clock shadow arguing against his presence was a tough bid. He hoped the younger teen would get the point, or at least back down.

"Who else is gonna help us Derek? There's one else around who can fight him. It's just the two of us!"

Derek hesitated before he spoke, unsure of what he was about to say.

"Three."

Stiles eyes went wide and snapped to Derek. 'What did he just say? He wouldn't! Would he?'

"What?" Scott questioned, he didn't understand.

"It's just the three of us." Derek said again. He saw Stiles give him a look as if he had grown seven heads, he was going to regret this later.

"What are you taking about? Me and you, who's the third? My boss?"

Derek simply looked at Stiles, who in turned looked at him with fear. Scott followed his gaze.

"Stiles? Stiles can't fight! He's not a werewolf. I mean yea he's been awesome with his research and all but he'd get torn to bits. No offense bro." How could Derrek even consider his friend an option? He must have been spending to many nights stuck in that burned house alone.

Derek gave Stiles a look that said, "Do you want to tell him?"

'No, no, no ,no. Don't do this man, come on,' Stiles chanted in his head.

Sensing Stiles' answer Derek turned back to Scott and said coolly, "Stiles can fight. He's a faerie." A blank look took over Scott's face. He counted.

'1, 2, 3, 4,'

"WHAT? What are you talking about? Derek have you lost your mind?"

"He can fight with us Scott, he has his own powers. Go on, tell him," Derek jerked his head at Scott.

Stiles was frozen. The ground had just opened up under him and he was trying to figure out how to climb his way back up.

'How could he do this to me? How could he fucking do this to me? I only told him cause he forced me too, I even told him not to tell Scott. I never planned to. Aww shit now Scott's giving me that kicked puppy look. He's gonna flip that Derek knew first. Fuck he's always been such a whiny girl. What do I do? I need a distraction. Think think think! Kathy Griffin, no llamas, wait, didgeridoos, the stock market, Apple, 9/11! Oh shit too soon. We must Never Forget. Why am I talking like Obama? This isn't working, oh fuck.'

Scott was staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to prove everything Derek was saying wrong so they could laugh and go call the brooding teen insane.

"Stiles, tell him how crazy he sounds," Scott commanded, he wanted this conversation to be over with.

"I'm not crazy! He just doesn't want to tell you."

The young faerie could only fidget under their stares. He was hoping if he stayed quiet long enough the whole conversation would implode and swallow itself, never to be heard from again.

"Just tell him already Stiles!" Derek urged. He was getting impatient watching the scene play out, the guilt digging in. Scott felt like his world was tipping over, like the time Allison broke up with him, but deeper. Derek was telling him things about his best friend that shouldn't be true. Him! He needed someone to say something to end the joke and deliver the punchline.

"Tell him, just like you told me," Derek told him evenly

"He's lying, right Stiles?" but Scott had listened to their heartbeats and already knew. Derek's was calm and steady, there were no skips. Stiles' was erratic, beating faster and faster ever since Derek had said the word "faerie", and he was giving off a smell of fear. Even with the silver on he was sure of it.

Stiles took in his friend's fallen face with that betrayed look in his eye and knew that he was caught. He was on the verge of having a panic attack. Scott started to say something else.

'I can't deal with this right now.'

Pooft


	5. Zero Point Jackson

Pooft

Stiles found himself back at school. It was the first place he could think of and it put him all the way across town from his interrogators. Despite the events of a certain night he still felt safe in its halls. Stiles tilted his head back on the locker behind him and slid down to the ground as the stress from what just happened washed over him. Frozen in place a few seconds ago, his mind was a chaos of motion now.

'How could he do that to me? I trusted him! He fucking forced me to tell him but I still trusted him, since I helped save his life, arm, whatever. Scott's going to be so mad at me. Why would Derek do something so fucked up man? He didn't even give me a warning, I mean I'd at least like a warning before I get royally fucked. Not even any lube! It's simple, one blink, "lets play chess", two blinks, "I don't drink Zima's", three blinks, "do you want me to ruin your whole life and tell Scott your darkest secret?". Common courtesy! And I don't care that you don't drink Zima's! This is just so bad."

"WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM?"

Stiles opened his eyes and slowly brought his head up. There, less than two feet away, was a very angry looking Jackson Whittmore. He was so wrapped worry he didn't notice that he teleported practically right on top of him.

"Don't tell me you've got freaky lil powers too!" Jackson shouted at him.

Stiles just stared at him with an open mouth. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening to him twice in the same day and three times in the same month. It was too horrible.

Jackson had just been walking down the hall coming from his latest post-Lydia hook-up in the locker room when suddenly the other boy appeared right in front of him, nearly an arm's reach away. Jackson was shocked. There was no way Stiles had been there before, he had come from the end of the hall, he would have definitely seen him, but no, he just, appeared. He stood there for a few seconds and blinked, thinking maybe it was some kind of euphoric after effect from the sex, but as he watched him close his eyes and slide to the ground the lacrosse captain was sure it was Stilinski in front of him. Anger quickly took the place of his surprise.

"I don't believe this! You and McCall are both running around here as some kind of super powered freaks! Am I the only person in this town who's normal? What, were you gonna go after my position as captain next? Unbelievable!" Jackson continued.

Stiles couldn't deal with this either. Rolling his eyes as he leaped to his feet he grabbed the irate youth in front of him by the shoulders and searched his mind.

Pooft

Jackson's brain picked up on the change in scenery.

"Are we in the forest? How are we in the fucking forest? Why do I feel so dizzy, and nauseous?" Jackson stumbled holding his stomach, trying to fend off being sick and regain his balance.

"Oh yea, that's a, umm, side effect," he eyed the other boy cautiously. He'd never experienced the side effects of his teleporting himself, but he heard they were unpleasant.

"So what werewolves can teleport where ever they want now?", the blonde forced between steadying breaths.

"I'm not a werewolf dumbass."

"Just great. Oh so what are you, a zombie? A vampire? Ghost? Weresquirrel?" Jackson mocked.

Stiles took a breath. Jackson had already searched until he found out the truth about Scott, he might as well get this over with now.

"No, I'm a faerie."

"Oh great," Jackson threw his hands up, "you're just a faggot-Omph!"

Stiles fist bludgeoned his skull.

"Ok that is the last time you punch me Stilinski!" he declared as he pulled himself off the ground ready to go into a rage.

"Uh uh! I'd stay right there. I touched your face, that means I can control it now. You wanna know what its like your head shoved up your probably bleached ass?" Stiles was totally bluffing, he couldn't do that after only one punch, but Jackson didn't need to know that. He just wanted to deter the guy from trying to get into a fight he wouldn't be able to finish.

"First off isn't your best friend gay? How would Danny feel about you saying that huh? I'm pretty sure he could kick your ass. Have you seen his chest? I mean its massive. Like you could titt fuck those things. I keep expecting milk to come out of them in the locker room, two percent. And second, I'm a faerie like TinkerBell you jerk."

Jackson stopped his prowl forward but his emotions didn't stop their rise. All his anger and annoyance pooled the lines of his face's chiseled features.

"So Scott's a werewolf and you're a sparkly super powered freak. Fantastic!" his movements were erratic.

"Both of you were just running around here pretending to be normal while secretly using your powers to move up in the world. Just a regular dynamic duo."

'Oh boy here it comes,' Stiles thought. 'I'm so Robin though...wait.'

"Well I've got news for you bench warmer. The jig is up. Between you and McCall ONE OF YOU IS GOING TO GIVE ME WHAT I WANT!" Jackson spewed, enunciating each word of his yelling with a clap.

"Woah there Sharonda don't you pull out the ghetto black girl clap on me! You don't know me. Chuu don't know, me!" Stiles emphasized his latina accent with a finger wave and a head roll.

"I will-" Jackson began.

"Shut-up! Do you hear that?" Stiles put up a hand for silence and cocked his head. He thought he heard something over their yells.

"What?' the anger filled teen barked.

"Maybe it was nothing."

Stiles took a moment to take in their surroundings for the first time. They were in a clearing surrounded by aptly spaced trees. Nothing seemed out of place. His eyes glanced over a half eaten deer carcass. He snapped back.

'Wait, that thing's pretty wrecked. There's no predators in this part of the forest that could do that. Dad told me so himself when the attacks started. What happened?'

In response a blood churning roar pushed through the air, ripping Stiles from his thoughts, and invading both boys with fear.

'Michele Bachmann?'

His answer presented itself as a black mound descended from above, it lunged at him and swiped him to the side, launching him into a tree several meters away. Pain seared through his body as his vision took on a blur, the blow leaving him barely conscious.

'Fuck, Peter.'

When he brought the two of them to the clearing he had stumbled upon the same place where the vicious werewolf had chosen to feed. The beast had laid in wait after it's new prey stepped into the scene.

'First next to Jackson, now the Alpha? Why super go-go powers, why do you betray me so?'

Stiles needed to protect Jackson. No doubt the Alpha would make his move and try to take the boy out if Jackson didn't beg him to give him the bite first, then he would move to finish off Stiles. Stiles weakly lifted his head up, his eyes able to make out shapes through the blur. He could see Jackson on the ground, crawling away backwards, and the distinct shape of the Alpha slowly stalking towards him. He could hear Jackson mumbling incoherent things, based on the fear he was about to die.

He had to save Jackson, but he could tell that his body could only handle one more step. He needed to take at least two to get to Jackson and get them both to safety, but the strike had hurt him bad, he would be surprised if nothing was broken. He could only make one more jump before his body wouldn't be able to support his powers anymore. Fighting through the painful fog Stiles tried to figure out the his next move.

Jackson hurriedly scuttled away from the menacing beast that was approaching him as if he were prey. He was frantic. This was his and the beast's third encounter and he had a sinking feeling his luck was running out. In the face of the piercing white fangs he was to scared to even ask for the precious cursed bite he sought. He only wanted to survive.

"G-G-G-Go on, ju-just take Stiles. He's the Sheriff's son, a w-way b-better kill for y-you. I promise, I w-won't tell a soul." He had seen how hard Stiles had hit the tree, the werewolf used so much force, he was sure his teammate was dead. If he traded his body for a possible escape no harm done.

Peter kept his forward prowl. Jackson tried he again

"Lets just, w-why wai-, y-you c-could" the fear had decimated his speech.

He kept moving backwards, feeling behind him, praying to find something to use. His hands grazed something pointed in the leaves. His heart spiked, he had something that might work. He just had to get in closer. He slowed his crawl, the Alpha wolf continued upon him, nose a barely a breadth from his ankles, he planned to make the kill slow and torturous for the terrified boy. As the wolf inched closer Jackson grabbed his find and swiped it across the beast face with a yell, driving the sharp stones into soft flesh, taking out Peter Hale's eyes.

He roared and thrashed away from him, blinded. Jackson felt relief, but knew it was only temporary. Even if he ran now, Peter would heal, and there was no way he could outrun a werewolf. He needed to figure out how to get in another blow. He scrambled for more rocks.

Stiles vision had cleared but he still felt the pain. He saw Jackson go for the strike and cheered at the results.

"Go find your contacts bitch!" He laughed at Peter, who was thrashing around on the other side, trying to force the rocks out.

He pulled himself together, if they weren't going to make it out of here, than he could at least die by Jackson's side. That way neither of them faced the end alone.

Jackson let out a breath of relief as Stiles appeared next to him.

"Oh thank god! Get us out of here!"

"Can't, too hurt." Stiles coughed out.

"Still useless," said Jackson said under his breath.

The sound of the Alpha's thrashing lessened, signaling that the healing had began, it was only a matter of time now. They subconsciously huddled together for the comfort from each other's presence. As they touched Stiles felt a familiar spark.

'No. .'

He turned his head and stared at Jackson as if he was seeing him for the first time. It was small and minute, but he knew that feeling anywhere. Faerie magic.

'Jackson has faerie magic. Jackson has faerie magic! Jackson is a faerie! But the magic's so small, it's barely there. Still I can use this. Shit I gotta make this quick. Ray Charles is almost done,' his brain was all over the place figuring out how to use what they had now.

The Alpha male turned around and faced their direction. He had finally dug out the rocks now all that was left was for the tissue to hell, but he could still use his nose to home in on his prey. Jackson jumped, and Stiles noticed what he saw. He had to work fast.

"Jackson, I need you to focus. I can get us out of here but I'm gonna need your help," Stiles said.

"What? I thought you said you couldn't do your thing anymore?" If Stiles was lying to him, he swore to god.

Stiles let loose a fit of coughs. "I can't. You're gonna stop that thing, you just gotta trust me,"he coaxed.

Trust him? Trust him? The kid had whisked him away to middle of the forest where he was about to be clawed and eaten and now he wanted him to trust him. Jackson couldn't believe it.

"This isn't the time to be funny Stilinski. We're about to die. That thing is going to eat us!"

Stiles wasn't paying attention to his complaints. He was busy focusing his own remaining magical power into his hand. A golden wave built up around it.

"Shut-up for two seconds and cooperate. I'm gonna need you to scream." He strained with focus.

"What? There's no one around! Who's gonna help us, huh?" the blonde shot back.

They didn't have time for this. Peter was moving forward, his eyes were almost back.

"Just scream when I tell you to," Stiles commanded. They were running out of time. Stiles had almost built up enough. There was only one chance for this. Optic nerves reconnected. Peter broke into a sprint. Stiles cleared his mind and remembered exactly what his mother had taught him for situations like this, Faerie Defense #8, the Call of Orion. Jackson had bought them time, now he would buy them a way out.

"Stiles I'm not going die like this!" Jackson's eyes were focused on the wolf screaming at them like a fanged missile. He refused to die screaming like a coward.

"FUCK YOU BITCH. SCREAM!" Stiles slammed his hand into Jackson's back, channeling all his power into him.

Jackson felt the energy flow into him, digging into his core, then once the two magics met, it exploded out, surging through his body. He felt like he was on fire, he felt like he was electrical, every fiber of his being was pulsing out of control. The force was building and he didn't know what to do, it just kept rising, he thought his chest was going to explode. What had Stiles done to him? The energy was tearing through his body, it was reaching its climax. He couldn't take it anymore, the pain was too much, his mind went white. He threw his head back and let out scream.

A deafening sound sprung forth from Jackson's voice. It tore through the air. It was like the hum of a mountain, the roar of the oceans, and a chorus angels all rolled into one. The world viewed distorted from the force. The call crashed into the werewolf like a tidal wave of pressure. The tremendous shock sent him flying into the far ends. Jackson felt the fire and electricity draining out of him. All the energy spent he slumped to the ground, body defeated.

Stiles couldn't believe it worked! He had only heard about it, but he had never seen the Call in action. He took in the damage. Trees were fallen, rocks completely shattered. The whole ground had been taken, leaving a clear path of where the sound had traveled. He wasn't worried about the Alpha, he knew he was probably over a mile away and somewhere unconscious. They were safe.

"What the hell was that?" Jackson's croaked out, his throat felt like sandpaper.

"That my friend, was the Call of Orion," was Stiles simple answer, patting the exhausted boy on the shoulder.

"The what?" He needed explanation. Stiles figured they had time.

"The Call of Orion of was put in place by one of our nephilim ancestors-"

"Wait, nephilim, I thought you said you were a faerie?" Jackson interrupted, his tired brain still hadn't caught Stiles' use of the word "our".

"Nephilim's were our ancestors, we're not as strong, we're half-human so we're faerie's. Well not you, no, never mind," Stiles continued, "The call was put in place by one of our ancestors to help faerie's protecting migrating nymph's. Nymph's have no power, but they still have the faerie looks. In ancient times rulers wanted nymph's for their harems and as consorts and concubines so they'd hunt them down. Our people use to live in colonies and would travel from one settlement to the next. At least one strong faerie was always put to a group of nymph's to ensure them safe passage. But sometimes they'd find themselves facing small armies and their powers wouldn't be enough. The faerie would fall, and the nymphs, with no way to protect themselves would be killed and captured. Orion, a great nephilim of the time, started getting sick of all the blood shed and wanted a way to make the nymphs useful to help the faeries protecting them. I mean can you blame it him? So he developed his 'Call'. He found a way to tap into a nymphs latent power, multiply, and expand it, unleashing it as this powerful sound wave that would keep all enemies at bay. And as a side effect some of the residual of all that hyped up energy is siphoned back to the initiating faerie, which is why I feel like Katy Perry from Fireworks right now. It's kind of like kick starting a dying star. Nymph magic is already feeble to being with, then give it some faerie juice and BAM! Unfortunately it's a one shot thing cause you burn it all up, and it can take a nymph awhile to build some back. You follow?" Stiles finished his explanation and watched Jackson patiently. He was still hurting, but that magic back flow had done him wonders.

Jackson was still grasping everything he had just heard. He was special just like he always wanted. He was a faerie, or nymph, whichever. He was truly special like he had always dreamed. But wait, why hadn't he noticed anything before now?

"How come I've been going all this time without getting any powers?" He was burning to know what he could do.

'Oh yea, he's kinda a dumb one.' Stiles eye rolled to himself. He placed a hand on Jackson's shoulder.

"You my friend, are a nymph. You've got the nephilim blood, and porn star nephy looks, and a teaspon of salt and magic, but no annoying powers. You're like a Faerie Mudblood! Or maybe a Faerie Muggle, iunno, I'll have to Google it. Isn't that great Hermoine?" He honestly thought being especially hot without the supernatural hangups was a pretty sweat deal.

Jackson's face fell, "WHAT? So you mean I'm a freak without the perks of being a freak?" He felt the part of him that has just come alive die again on the inside.

"Ummmm," Stiles wanted to comfort his fellow nephilim brother but he wasn't sure how. Then suddenly he heard a familiar voice through the trees.

"Did I just hear the Call of Orion?"

Stiles snapped his head around, his eyes bulged out at the newcomer to their clearing. There, giving a look loaded with suspicion was non other than Lydia Martin.

"How do you know whaa," Stiles voiced trailed off. This day was definitely becoming too much.

She stepped forward. "That was most definitely the Call of Orion, and judging from the fact that you look like a used plastic bag," she motioned towards Jackson, "I'm guessing Stiles was the one here to initiate." She pursed her lips waiting for answers.

"You know what that was? There's no way you can no what that was. That's means you'd have to be- Ok you know what that was wasn't a Call of Orion, that was umm, Jackson, screaming. Yea! Me and Jackson fucked, he screamed, cause I rocked his world, with my penis, and his gay cock. Yup! Just two guys, screaming." Stiles playfully punched Jackson in the shoulder, who in turn shot him a look of disgust.

"So you're part of this lil club too. What can you do?" Jackson gave Lydia a look of contempt. No one around him was what they seemed.

"Yes, Jackson dear, I'm a fae, and my secrets are not for you to find out," she shrugged. She turned to Stiles. "You had to use the call for a reason. Something attacked you, was it that same fanged creep who put me in the hospital?"

"..."

"Stiles," she said in her sweet voice.

"..."

"Gemin!"

"Look yea we got attacked but you've got some explaining to do yourself. How long were you gonna keep this from me? Did you know that I was one like you?" Jackson questioned.

"Look, I didn't think it was necessary Jackson. Besides you don't have powers anyway, I was saving you a headache. I don't think this is the time for this arguement." Lydia brushed is questions off.

"Oh we are gonna have this right now. You've been keeping shit from me!" He was angry and exausted and these two were getting on his nerves.

"I told you what I felt you needed to know. Which was nothing!" Their conversation quickly escalated into an argument.

Stiles head was doing a completely 360 in his brain. Lydia Martin, the Lydia Martin, was another faerie. This was impossible. How he he not noticed? Sure it's not like he was actively looking for clues, but they had gone to the same school together since the third grade. He had to have gotten close enough to her at least once to feel some kind of faerie magic buzzing around. He searched and searched his brain, thinking back to every encounter he could ever remember they had. Then it clicked. Those sensual pouty lips, her luxurious shimmering hair, that overdeveloped voluptuous body, those sensual needy eyes, they way every boy in school wanted to do what she said.

"You're one of her's," Stiles whispered.

They two stopped their fighting and turned to him.

"What?" Lydia gave him a look daring him to go on.

"No wonder I didn't notice all this time, I was too caught up going gaga over you to notice, but you're one of hers. That's what you can do!"

"One of what Stilinski?" Jackson was noticing Lydia getting more livid by the second, and Stiles' half-answer wasn't helping him understand the reason.

"Fuck, another history lesson for your ass. Ok back in the day our ancestors use to pose as different deity's and such. Back when they were on the European leg of their world tour, they pretended to be Greek gods and one of them became known as Aphrodite. Now nephs are already supermodel hot by comparison, but Aphrodite was just something else. Even by our standards she was crazy banging. Have you ever seen Janet Jackson? Put her inside of Jennifer Lopez and you've still got a troll compared to her. Personally I think Janetiffer Lopson would be face melting hot, but still no. Her power was seduction and persuassion, and with her looks she made people of ancient times do whatever she wanted. She made men fight over her, people fall in love with her, other people fall in love with each other! She manipulated your heart, she could turn you on with a touch. You ever heard the phrase 'all's fair in love & war?' well she made it, because she was starting the wars. She was a bad chick. And all her faerie offspring inherited her slutty tricks. They can use their looks to make you think about doing what they want, and then their seduction powers just finish off the battle. Lydia's one of hers alright. I never noticed the faerie magic buzzing off her before cause I just thought that's what it felt like being attracted to her. But now I know she's just a skank. "

"I RESENT THAT STATEMENT!" Lydia screamed.

"Oh please sister, you've been using your powers since we were kids to make every boy in school do what you want. Even Jackson here was just your puppy dog. That's just wrong," he crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Wait. So all that time we were going out it's just cause you were forcing me to?" Jackson's glare told her everything he thought about her right now.

"No sweetheart, I can have any guy or girl in this town I want, so don't flatter yourself. I went out with you for a specific reason," she defended. She planned to kill Stiles for this.

"Like I should believe you. You're nothing but an attention-loving cunt. You only went out with me cause you wanted the status and all the perks. Well not anymore, I know what you are. I know what your game is, and it's through" he turned his finger of accusation at Stilinski, "And you, your lil sound trick took my power away from. I could've been great and you just took my chance and tossed it aside. When I get what I want from your friend McCall and become a werewolf, .."

'So Scott's a werewolf. Duly noted,' Lydia thought to herself.

Lydia's slapped flashed across Jackson's face. He stood there stunned. What was with everyone thinking they could assault his precious face?

"If Stiles hadn't used the Call, he wouldn't have been able to save your life! Be grateful for that. Besides if you weren't a nymph you both would've been out of options anyway. So you helped save yourself. And hun, non matter how much you bark, growl, or act like a downright jerk you can't become a werewolf." The aired around her was full with irritability. She had enough of his snotty attitude.

"Look, we're over, I don't care what you think about the morality of it-"

Lydia sighed.

"I got bit by a werewolf too. Am I another Scott? Do you see me running to Sophia so she can wax my bush every twenty minutes? No. Sophia doesn't do Sundays, I'd be screwed. Other than a new found respect of dental floss I healed perfectly fine. You can't become a werewolf dear, we're immune, our blood rejects the virus. You can catch the flu, you can catch AIDs, hell you can even catch gonorrhea from that Tiffany skank you've been banging in the locker room, but you can't catch the Bite. And you might wanna get test for that second to the last one by the way," she huffed out.

"What?" Jackson ran his fingers through his hair distraught. It was like every option before him was being closed off.

"Stop depending on other people give you what you want," Lydia scolded. "You want power? Take it yourself, no one's going to give it to you. I went out with you because I saw that somewhere inside you had drive, ambition. Because at the end of the day you push yourself harder than anyone else and get to where you want. I saw that, and I chose you because together we could rule our school. Be a man Jackson, stop searching for an easy way out. Being special isn't the only goal in this world." She had her hand on her hips and her look was ready to kill.

The co-captain was shocked.

"Damn dude you just got served. Those were some pretty insightful words, for a slut," Stiles chuckled.

"I am not a slut!" the cheerleader shreiked.

"But like all your clothes are from Hollister though...," Stiles said in a small voice. Lydia was pretty scary when she got mad.

"Just because my powers make me irresistibly hot doesn't mean I'm a slut Stiles, I just use the advantages given to me. What can you even do, turn yourself into seven different kinds of awkward?"

Stiles was about to go in with his come back when out of nowhere Jackson's cellphone rang. His ears paused at the sound.

"Really man, 98 Degrees? How white are you?" The teleporter was appalled by the nymph's choice of ringtone.

"Oh and what's your's, DMX or 50 Cent?" Jackson snapped.

"Actually," At that moment his own phone rang. It was Scott. He still had to deal with that.

'An dwe stuntin like Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada! Them basic bitches wear that shit so don't even botha!"

Jackson made a sound with his throat, and Stiles smirked in satisfaction. Owned. He turned his attention to Lydia.

"What're you even doing out way out here in the forest anyway? It's a lil far out for a jog." True, they were pretty deep for most people to normally go on their own, but her yoga pants and fitness top made it look like a jog was exactly what she came for.

"If you must know I came out here to do my Rites, it's that time of the month," she replied.

'Shit, my Rites! I completely forgot about those. I haven't done them in a few months now.'

"Right, the Rites," he really needed to get on that.

"What are 'the Rites'?"

"I'll tell you later Jackson. You know Stiles if I found a you just a lil less annoying I would say we could do them together sometime. You were so sweet to me at prom. Lets go Jackson." She turned around and strutted off into the woods.

Jackson eyed Stiles worriedly for a moment. While he was just drained and exhausted, the other boy had actually taken a hit, and didn't look in that great of a shape.

Stiles caught the look and waved him off, "Go, I'll be fine. Get out of here before she comes back and unhinges her jaw again."

"Well, thanks, for the save," Jackson turned to walk away.

"You're welcome. Oh, and Jackson?"

Jackson turned around.

"You scream like a bitch."

"Argh!" Jackson stomped off.

Stiles laughed too himself. He had a long walk ahead of him and now he had something to laugh about.


	6. Bare Fist

Stiles took a breath as gazed at the building in front of him. He had to make sure he was mentally prepared, for this wouldn't be an easy task. He took in the sight laid out ahead. The warehouse was stark and solid against the landscape. The gravely lot giving him a feel of daunting. The clear sky and cool weather felt as if the day was mocking him. It was at this same warehouse, four days ago, that a certain Derek Hale had outed his supernaturalness to his best friend without warning, and at the same time had set in motion a chain of events that had also cause him to be outed to a certain narcissist named Jackson, and have a friendly encounter with their neighborhood murdering Alpha. Yes Stiles was jumping with joy upon stepping inside. Scanning around he noticed the signature black Camaro tucked near the back, and sighed.

'Of course they're already here. Just waiting for lil ol me.'

Since the whole incident he had been keeping a low profile from all parties involved. His phone had been practically turned off most of the day to avoid all the calls and texts from Scott.

Dude we need to talk.

Bro, what happened back there?

Why didn't you ever tell me?

Stiles call me back.

What's wrong with you? How could you not tell me?

Why did Derek know first?

Stiles!

It went on like that for two days, until the flow trickled out. School was a bit harder to pull off but he had managed. Instead of their usual seats Stiles had been sitting by Danny, who, knowing something was up, wasn't too eager to converse with the A.D.D addled teen, only willing to be his temporary stand-in if he was paid in silence. Well a majority of silence...or at least a bare minimum. Stiles did the best he could. When lunch came around he more than happily ported away and enjoyed some takeout or other finer dining until the time he knew the bell rang and returned to school. Lacrosse practice with Scott and Jackson wasn't even an issue since he skipped to give his body time to heal. He simply showed Coach Finstock his wound, and after a probably too exaggerated explanation, was excused until he felt better. Sometimes he talked too much for his own good.

"Jesus Stilnski did you get into a nerd fight at Best Buy or something?" his coach exclaimed after seeing his players profound bruising. The swollen messed stared back at him, spreading from the small of Stiles' back curving all the way to his right shoulder. He was lucky nothing was broken.

"Well you see Coach," Stiles began, "I was helping this sweet lil old lady cross the street over by Market, when suddenly her dementia hit and she started beating the life outta me with her walker! One minute I'm thinking of how this sweet gem reminds me of my nana, the next I'm on the ground praying her hip will give out while she's screaming about tosterone levels, the price of prune juice, and jews plotting their revenge. My nana she was not! People these days." he finished with a huff.

Coach Finstock stared at him with wide eyes. 'Maybe too much flourish,' Stiles thought.

"Whatever Stilinski, just put some ice on that thing and go home until it gets better. But I expect you back here as soon as it's gone or else you're doing twenty laps for every extra hour you're away. Now go!" The coach walked past him to meet his team out on the field.

Yup the avoidance game so far had been going in his favor. Stiles was also grateful his dad wasn't home much. It would be hard to explain why Scott kept showing up banging mercilessly at their front door yelling, "I know you're in there! I can smell you Stiles. Come out or I'm going to kill you!"

Luckily he didn't have a key, like Stiles did for the other teens home. Small blessings. He had even gone as far as to line his windowsill with wolfsbane to avoid any unwanted nighttime visits. Cruel, but he felt he had no other options, plus he secretly loved the idea of Derek and Scott getting struck by an invisible force field.

Surprisingly Derek had given him a lot of space during his four day meditation. Stiles figured he would be hounding him aggressively with even more questions now that the cat was out of the bag, trying to move things along, but as far as Stiles was concerned Derek had kept his distance. There was the one incident where the older teen had showed up outside his house the next day in what Stiles assumed was an attempt to reconcile.

The black Camaro had pulled up across the street some time after Stiles had gotten home from school and just sat there. A gesture.

'I'm here to talk,' it said.

Stiles understood the message, loud and clear, but his initial anger over the incident the day before got the better of him. Using his powers, in a blink of an eye he coated Derek's car with every condiment in the house, eggs included. He couldn't see or hear Derek's reaction, but after sitting there for a moment the Camaro sprang to life and slid off into suburbia, windshield wipers going.

'Message Received.'

Stiles couldn't hide the small grin on his face as he relived the memory. With powers like his he could turn this avoidance thing into an art, but he had matters to handle. He started walking towards the warehouse ahead. Making his way up the stairs on the building's side and through the door he had to let his eyes adjust to the initial dimness inside. There, in the middle were the two men he was looking for.

Derek and Scott turned towards Stiles as he approached. They had been waiting there for him for nearly an hour. Neither had expected to be here today, it was a pretty random turn of events. Scott received a text from his friend Stiles telling him to meet him at their location around 3:30. It was the first communication between the two of them in four days. He hurried over as soon as he could. When he and Derek showed up at the same time they both realized they had gotten the same text. Derek just gave him his usual hitched eyebrow before sauntering inside. Neither said a word while they waited. In the last four days they had really talked enough, for either of their liking.

The first day was mostly a rapid fire assault of questions from Scott about his friends recent outing. He soon figured out though that asking Derek would get him nowhere. Albeit Derek helped him figure this out by kicking him through the Hale manor's front door, he realized getting the answers from his friend would be best. But Since Stiles wasn't around, and not talking to him, Scott took it upon himself learn some of his own wolfy facts from Derek. Those three days hadn't been the older wolf's favorite.

Stiles stopped a short distance away from them. Derek took in the boy before him. He had to admit after four days seeing the faerie felt nice, it made a spot in his chest warm, and put a bit of his tension at ease. Stiles stood there with his hands tucked in dark jeans, one leg cocked forward, and shoulders back, displaying his white thermal that he wore under a blue-green plaid shirt just the way Derek liked, finishing the whole look off with black Chucks. An American youth rebel for all the world to see. The arousal inadvertently made the yearning man growl, causing Scott, who went to take a step towards his faerie friend, stop in his tracks.

Stiles gave Scott a small smile and an apologetic look with his eyes. For their other companion he reserved a glare. It Derek hurt to see the soft warm brown eyes that usually looked at him with something between fear and curiosity shift to anger and mistrust.

"So how have you Pound Puppies been?" Stiles teased at the two.

"Good considering I just spent an hour waiting for you to stumble on in here," Derek scoffed.

"Cool it Nose Marie. How about you Bright Eyes? Do anything fun lately?" Stiles turned to Scott.

"Stiles stop calling us girl names from Pound Puppies! You need to explain what's been going here. Four days ago I saw you disappear into thin air, and you've been like a ghost ever since!"

Stiles rolled his eyes at Scott. "Ok, so we're just gonna jump right into this then huh? Alright, yes, as Wolf Vader over there told you so kindly with my full permission, I am in fact a faerie. No I don't have wings to fly, and no you can't put me away in a lantern. I can teleport, that's it."

"So you're really a faerie?" Scott asked with eyes wide from astonishment.

"Yep."

"So did you like, get bit by a faerie? When did this happen?"

This time Derek rolled his eyes as Stiles started his signature neck and arm flailing.

"Where in any of our childhood storybooks have you heard about a faerie biting anyone? Does your version of Peter Pan include Tinkerbell with a thirst for blood? Cinderella with Zombie Godmothers? C'mon man seriously?" Stiles looked at Scott with disbelief.

"Hey I don't know, this whole thing is knew to me! In case you haven't noticed I'm suddenly a werewolf! Now apparently there's other monsters out there too," Scott defended. "If you didn't get bit how'd you become one? Did you eat a magic plant? A wish on a star."

"Stop, just stop. It doesn't work like that, you're born a faerie. My mom was a faerie, so that makes me one too," the young fae finished with a shrug.

Scott processed what he had just heard. Stiles mother. This whole time, since he was young he had interacted with supernatural beings without even knowing, and now he was one. Him and Stiles had been friends forever, he couldn't keep the hurt out of his voice. He almost felt overwhelmed.

"Why didn't you ever tell me? Especially after all this happened. You acted like you didn't know anything. We're supposed to be best friends Stiles. I tell you everything! I become a fanged monster that can't even be close to Allison and you couldn't even tell me I wasn't alone?"

"Ahh well it was a sensitive subject for me," Stiles replied rubbing the back of his head. "Look dude, Mom always told me to guard my secret with my life, so I did, and honestly I didn't know anything about creatures like werewolves until you got bit. I mean I suspected, there had to be other stuff out there, I just didn't think it would come here to Beacon Hills, or rather it was already here," he said as he glanced at Derek.

Scott's face took on a small pout.

"Ugh can we skip the girl talk power hour and move on to something else? We need to figure out how the three of us are going to take out the Alpha" Derek snarled out.

Stiles chuckled softly, the way it went from low to high and low again without raising in sound made Derek's ears tingle.

"You sure you don't want to air out anymore of my dirty little secrets first?" Stiles gave Hale a small smile laced with evil.

"Look Stiles, I'm sorry about what happened but-"

"You were just doing what your 5 o'clock shadow oozing brain felt was best Clifford. I know. No hard feelings. Speaking of hard feelings though, guess who ran into your wonderful uncle last week? Want a hint?" He looked around. "This guy!" he indicated with his thumb.

"What! You fought the Alpha? What happened? Where are you hurt?" Scott had gone into full worry mode at this point. He doesn't talk to his friend for four days and it almost killed him.

"Long story short basically after Surprise Party Derek over here dropped his bomb Monday I ended up at school, where Bleached Betty Jackson stumbled upon me, which resulted in another outing, thanks SPD." Derek just grunted. "Which then landed me and BBJ in the woods where then we discovered that together we had stumbled upon CMAUK, Crazy Murdering Alpha Uncle Killer...hmmm maybe I should switch some of those letters around. Anyway, I'm fine. Some faerie bedazzle on my part and some help from Jackson and we kicked some alpha ass. I just got a bruise but it's fine now," the A.D.D teen finished his story nonchalantly.

"You came across my uncle and he didn't rip you to pieces? Why didn't you just teleport away?" Derek was confused, he knew how vicious his uncle could be. 'That should have been Stiles' first instinct, especially with BBJ, damn, Jackson in tow.'

"Ahh, well at first he got the jump on me and took me down, so I had to improvise."

"You couldn't just teleport away after you got up?" Scott was confused as well. None of this made sense, Stiles, his Stiles, had fought the Alpha and was telling them about it.

"Dude, he hit me pretty hard, and I don't have furry defense like you do!" countered Stiles.

'That's right, Scott doesn't really know how his powers work like I do. Hmph, stupid brat,' Derek mused.

"But how could you manage to hurt the Alpha, and with Jackson? You said all you can do is teleport. Unless you teleported a tree on top of his head. Do faeries have other powers you're not telling us about? It just doesn't make sense!" Scott had seen what it could do, it was the main reason for his protest.

Stiles was hit with realization, "Oh yea, you haven't gotten the awesome Stiles faerie power rundown yet. Ok, so here's the deal, my mojo's like an extension of my body. My power works best when my body's doing best. If I eat a good meal and my bodies in good shape, I can port all day long. But if my I'm injured, or don't have enough fuel my power's thrown off balance and each step takes a bite outta me. Kinda like The Flash if he doesn't have enough hot dogs. The Alpha's no Betty White, Scott. That hit took a pretty big toll, I only had about 1 step left and I still had to get to Jackson."

Scott had a puzzled look on his face. "So you can't heal or like teleport your injuries away or something?"

"No, and no. That would mean tearing off a piece of myself. Dude." Man he wondered about his friend sometimes.

This time Scott turned towards Derek, "So how's he supposed to help us fight? He can't heal like we can. What's he gonna do, just be our escape plan?"

Stiles' eye twitched. Was Scott insisting that he couldn't fight? "Woah man, don't underestimate me. I can fight better than you" he huffed pointing his finger at his friend who he really felt the urge to punch right now.

"You said it yourself, all you can do is teleport. C'mon, in middle school I was always the one pulling other kids off your ass" Scott laughed. He remembered those days too well. It was when Stiles knack for talking started getting him in too deep.

"Well did you ever think I let them win dumbass? How would it look if the Sheriff's kid just started beating kids up left and right?" Stiles remembered exactly which incidents Scott was talking about, but they really weren't all what they seemed. Sure he might have said a little bit too much, or perhaps too little in the wrong tone, talking himself into a hole, but he could've handled himself in those situations, he was just protecting the other guy, and his dad's reputation. Honestly.

"Like you could have taken on Joel Rednuk on your own?" taunted Scott.

"Yea, just like I can take on both of your scrawny werewolf asses." and there it was, the hole.

"Oh really?" Derek spoke up with a growl.

"Yea!" the riled up teen stood his ground.

"Well how about a friendly match then? You vs me and Scott, to put your words to the test," Derek ground out through gritted teeth. He was well aware of his body and did not appreciate being referred to as "scrawny."

"I like the sound of that. You two are so busy running around here playing Fanged and Furious it's time someone put you two pooches in their place. Don't worry though," Stiles said as he moved into position, "I'll play nice." In the hole Stiles fell.

"Oh man Stiles, you are so dead for that!" Scott started pacing back as he began to shift.

"Now that someone's done hiding what they are they've gotten a little overconfident," Derek stated as he began to shift and move into position as well. This new, aggressive side of Stiles was a surprise to him. He knew the boy was fiery, but to actually fight him? This was unexpected. He liked it. Bold and unapologetic. 'I just hope I don't hurt him too bad,' he prayed silently. He would hold back, but he still needed to remind both boys of who he was.

His target gave no response. Just stared across the room at the two of them, planning out his assault.

"Go easy on him, use control," Derek spoke low enough for only Scott's ears to hear.

Stiles had just finished mentally pumping himself up, he just needed to give one more push to goad his companions to get fired up. He looked back and forth between Scott and Derek.

" Your mother's fat, that jackets gay, and Beyonce had the greatest video of all time. Bring it on." Stiles was ready for this.

"RAHHHHH!" Derek sprinted forward.

For a split second Scott wondered if he was upset about the jacket barb or Beyonce, then he remembered Stiles had called his mother fat.

"AHHHHH!" he charged at his friend.

'Perfect,' Stiles smirked.

Pooft

BAM! Appearing behind he thrust an elbow into Scotts skull.

Pooft

In a swift motion he swept Derek's legs from under him.

"Oww, shit," Scott groaned as he got back up, "that actually hurt." He looked around for Stiles but didn't see him around. To his left he saw Derek getting up as well.

Pooft

THWAP! Suddenly on his left a right hook crashed into his jaw.

Pooft

Dead ahead a kick blasted into Derek's shoulder. Taking advantage of Derek's stunned reaction Stiles drove another into his gut.

"Son of a bitch!" the injured older beta cursed out as he dropped to one knee, clutching his shoulder. He really hadn't been expecting this. Stiles wasn't delivering any light blows, and he could barely register the boy before he was gone again. This might be harder than he expected.

"Derek we need a new plan. He can teleport!" The scope of his friends power actually dawning on him. Scott was getting on edge, Stiles hadn't launched a second assault after him yet. He seemed to be putting the most effort into hurting Derek.

"He's still one person and he can't be in two places at once! He has to focus just like we do. We'll stick together. One of us will stand at the ready and when he launches an attack the other will strike a blow. Remember what he said, his powers are a part of his body. We have to wear his body down before he takes us down so he can't teleport." Derek moved towards Scott so they could stay close together.

Stiles was crouched on top of an arch near the ceiling with a big smile on his face. He knew his attacks left both werewolves disorientated, and he was having so much fun watching the aftermath. They didn't know he had been doing offensive training with his powers since he was a kid. He was just getting started. He would rain hell down in a flurry of fist and kicks like they'd never seen.

Pooft

He appeared crouched low in front of Scott and shoved an uppercut into his stomach.

Derek saw his opportunity and grabbed the boy by the shirt, flinging him backwards across the ground.

Pooft

Stiles recovered and teleported to land a deft spin-kick to the left of Derek's head. Derek again fell to the ground.

In turn Scott sprang up and swatted Stiles to the ground, happy their new strategy was showing fast results.

"Damn," Stiles said as he coughed the dirt out of his mouth. 'So that's why they moved closer together huh? Very smart. Sure I can easily take on multiple guys, but if they synchronise their attacks that eliminates openings. Derek must of thought of that one. Guess I'll just have to bring some more.'

If he could break their sync he could keep the lead in this battle. Stiles stood, turned to face Scott and smiled. "You hit like a girl."

Pooft

The teen wolf growled. Derek stood not too far on his left side, back on his feet. Their new strategy had worked twice already so he was sure they could win this whole thing. Stiles' blows were hard, but not 'knockout a werewolf' hard.

Pooft

Stiles appeared across the room from him, eyes intense and fist up.

"Whaa-" Scott started to get out.

Pooft

Pain caused Scott's lungs to struggle to access the air in the room because now he was on its other side with something extremely solid meeting his back.

Derek's eyes shot wide as he witnessed Scott fly behind him into a stone pillar, the impact sending pieces crumbling to the floor.

Pooft

Off guard Stiles spiked an elbow straight into Derek's ribcage only to reappear across the way.

"GODDAMMIT STILES! I feel like I got hit by a mack truck! What was that?" Scott screamed, regaining his ground. His whole body was buzzing with pain.

"Oh, did you like that? Here's something from another one of those subjects you're failing Scott. When I teleport my molecules build a lot of momentum. I can then store this momentum and use it to let you get more aquianted with things like that wall over back there. Sure one step that's nothing, pretty much all me. Two steps, that's something you can feel, and three? Well I'd tell you to look behind you buuut," Stiles was giddy with adrenaline. He didn't have to tell them every little detail about his powers. Some things were just better learnt in the field.

"Derek what do we do now?" Scott asked worried. With Stiles being able to deal blows on the same scale they could this might have just become an unfair fight, numbers or not.

The older wolf cocked his head at the whine. "We just come at him harder and faster," he responded. He really liked this new Stiles. He waited for the next attack.

Scott's breaths were labored as his body worked overtime trying to heal from the last blow.

"So how's this strategy of yours supposed to work if you're too far apart?" he heard next to his ear. 'Fuck.'He felt a hand touch his shoulder.

Pooft

Gone.

Pooft

"Oh god." Barely taking in his new surroundings Scott moaned clutching his stomach, he suddenly felt sick and dizzy.

"Yeeeeeea, umm, that happens," was the explanation Stiles gave before two-step punching his friend into the wall. With Scott up here on the balcony floor he should be able to fight them on one by one.

"Damn kid," Derek didn't think Stiles would separate them like that. Thankfully from the noise Scott's groaning he knew he was still in the building.

Pooft

Derek's tensed. He had been listening the whole time trying to see if there was some kind of tell to figure out where Stiles would appear. He had strained his ears to their heightened max when he finally heard it. The tiny whooshing of air that sounded behind him. He threw back his right arm and felt his fast firmly connect with what felt like Stiles' soft face.

"Gahh!"

He turned around and Stiles was a crumpled lump on the floor. Somewhere part of him was guilty for hurting the boy, but his feral wolf on the surface was gone from the thrill. He gave a fanged smile and prowled towards his prey. 'Gotcha.'

Stiles didn't stay down for long. Thinking fast he sprang up, and performed a bicycle kick off Derek's face before porting again to give him a flying kick into his lower back, and again to deal a handstand kick to his stomach. The last hit left Derek thrown on his backside and above he saw Stiles falling from the air to finish him with a last blow.

Stiles prepared for his fist to connect but, suddenly he was thrown back!

Scott was just in time to defend his teammate. Stiles had been so busy with his torrent on Derek that he hadn't seen Scott leap down from the balcony, giving him a chance to run and swing himself into a low kick from all fours, the momentum launching his friend into a waiting rock pile.

"I gotta give it to him, he's not to be underestimated."

Scott spun around shocked. 'Did Derek just give out a compliment?'

"I don't know where he learned to fight like this. It's liked MMA mixed with breakdancing and boxing. Jesus," Scott admitted shaking his head. "I don't know how to cope."

Derek huffed in agreement. "Scott, listen, if you focus really close you can hear just as he appears. It's a very tiny sort of popping sound," Derek warned. He didn't want either of them caught off guard.

"Got it." Scott was determined to be ready for their next round.

They both stood staring at the dust cloud that had risen where Stiles had landed, waiting for him to make his next move. Suddenly the cloud of dust shifted and sucked inward on itself. Scott's ears twitched.

Pooft

There, he heard it. Acting on pure instinct Scott threw his body forward at the sound. His shoulder clipped Stiles in the chest, sending him back once more.

Pooft

"Ooof!"

Scott felt as if a boulder was crushing him, weighing his whole body down. Stiles had teleported again and changed his trajectory to finish flying through the air on top of Scott. It was pretty effective.

Derek saw his opening and moved to drop his elbow straight into the Stiles' exposed front. Realizing too late Stiles was already gone he instead he drove his blow into the small of his younger counterparts back, who let out a furious howl.

Pooft

Stiles was on his right!

Pooft

No, his left!

Pooft

All Derek saw was stars as his vision was overtaken with bright flashes and for a brief moment his body was weightless in the air until he connected with something that wouldn't give.

Scott took the new opening and clawed at the leg before him, feeling the tips of his claws gain warmth from the blood until the limb they were holding was gone.

Making a momentary escape Stiles needed a chance to recuperate. He slid down to a seating position as the wall cooled him. His lunged wracked his body with each breath and his leg stung from the gashes Scott had made.

'Damn those fuckers got me good. All those blows of theirs are adding up, my body won't be able to keep through like this.' He gave a gasp. 'I can feel the porting starting to wear me down. And my jeans, that bastard ripped my jeans! I mean yea my leg too, but I hated that leg, I love these jeans! Maaan. Stupid Derek, they're getting smart and I gotta finish this up quick.'

Stiles shifted his weight, preparing his body to dive back into the foray.

'If I take another heavy hit it'll probably cut how many steps I have left in half. I need to take out Scott first, he doesn't have the same endurance Derek does, and that red shirt proves he doesn't have the same fashion sense either. Sorry bro.'

Below the two wolves were once again working their way off the ground, bodies stiff and in pain.

"You ok?" the younger wolf asked his partner wearily as he stumbled back to his side.

"I'll survive," was Derek's gruff reply. "Where is he?"

Scott growled and jutted his head towards the balcony where he could the smell fresh blood. He knew his friend was probably recovering. Neither of them were sure if they had worn him out enough yet.

"Not for long I bet," Derek mulled. Stiles had proven that his strikes could come not only fast, but hard, and Derek didn't like being in the open like this. His eyebrows furrowed as he felt something bounce off him. "What the hell?" A rock had hit him on the forehead and lay on the floor.

"THUDERCATS!"

Derek and Scott's eyes both shot up at the ceiling. Scott's rolled, his friend was a cartoon fanatic, he didn't like the sound of this. There was Stiles kicking his way off one edge of the ceiling.

"THUNDERCATS!"

Their eyes darted, spotting him kicking off another.

"THUNDERCATS!"

This time it was straight down the ceilings middle.

"HOOOOOOO!"

Pooft

He appeared right in the middle of them, slamming his fist straight into the ground, releasing all the energy he had built up with a thunderous sound resembling a roar. A small shock wave radiated out from him, blasting Derek and Scott apart. Not missing a beat Stiles ported behind Scott as he flew threw the air, wrapped his arms around him and, taking another small step since they were already in motion, leaned back, using the weight of his body to throw his friend into a German suplex, stepping away before he too was caught in the impact.

It all happened so fast Scott tried to brace himself for whatever was coming, but as the force shook through his body he was knocked out cold.

Stiles looked down at the human face below him, eyes closed and seeming sound asleep.

"Booyah!" he exclaimed. Scott was definitely out for the count. Suddenly he heard clapping and whipped his head at the sound. There ahead was human Derek walking towards him. 'Huh?'

"That," Derek indicated towards the limp Scott clapping his hands, "was impressive."

"Whooped your poodle butt so bad you didn't want anymore?" the faerie grinned at him cockily.

Derek chose to ignore the insult. "I underestimated you Stiles. I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling most of this match in the morning." He had reached where Scott and Stiles where and moved to take a seat on the ground.

"You should be glad to feel anything besides your morning wood," Stiles snorted as he slid down the wall to join him. He looked at his unconscious friend again, hoping it didn't take him too long to wake up.

Watching him Derek began to wonder about what he and Scott had spoke about briefly during the match and voiced his questions out loud, "Where did you learn to fight like that?" Just like the sleeping Scott he really wanted to know.

"Ehh most of it's innate," the younger boy shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Derek's curiosity piqued.

"I don't wanna have to repeat myself, like one of those annoying cash settlement commercials, so I'll explain later," Stiles replied, again looking at Scott's sleeping features.

"So the Alpha-"

"That one too."

Derek leaned his head back against the wall and mused. He replayed their battle in his head. He had truly seen a side of Stiles he was sure few had ever seen before and it made him happy. The brown eyed teen was poised, swift, accurate, and deadly. Not a single wasted blow, and every hit was meant to deal damage. Even his fighting style was fluid and multidimensional. If he could do this well on his own against two werewolves then he was positive the three of them against his uncle was a sure deal. His whole body nearly relaxed at the thought, until a harsh smell wafted by his nose. 'Blood!'

He opened his eyes looking for the source and saw the Stiles' pant leg was even darker than the fabric and it was moist.

"Your leg," he spoke.

"Oh yea," Stiles moved it a bit. "Scott's revenge after I fly swatted you into that wall," he chuckled. "Now that I think about it, it kind of stings."

"Let me see." Derek moved down and pushed the fabric aside so he could clearly see the wound. Three somewhat deep, and one shallow gash bared up at him pooling blood. He leaned down and began lapping up the crimson pools.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stiles asked him, eyes wide as saucers. He couldn't believe how this checkup had just taken a turn and ignoring his pain began to flail.

"Cleaning it. I'm sure Scott doesn't wash under his nails, this will help it feel faster." Derek went back to work holding the leg firmly in place.

"Ummm, ok, whatever. You're kinky, it's good." Stiles didn't remember reading that in any of his werewolf facts but the fight was starting to take its toll and he was too tired to argue. "Just remember you're a werewolf, not a vampire."

Derek just grunted in response, focused on his task. Stiles blood was a haughty tang of iron and sweetness. Secretly he was in heaven.


	7. Field Trip

Branches cracked and fell limp, making way for a hulking figure pushing its way through the forest. The sound of movement rang sharp through the air of the previously undisturbed silence. Derek paused a moment to take in his surroundings to ensure that they were still on track.

"You can't smell north meanie brows, are we lost?" Stiles huffed in line behind him, Scott bringing up the rear. The group had started their hike well over an hour ago, following Derek's lead. They had kept a pretty brisk pace and, to Derek's mild surprise, Stiles only seemed a little out of breath, but he should have expected as much. Things about Stiles had been surprising him a lot lately. Scott seemed fine of course, his wolf stamina lending him an aide, but his cheeks were tinged red from exertion. He looked at Derek expectantly, waiting for an answer to Stiles question. Derek instead chose to ignore it, merely clenching his defined jaw and turning his attention back to the clearing.

" . .face-" Stiles muttered under his breath.

"I can hear that!" Derek snapped.

"Good! Maybe you can hear a compass too!" Stiles shot back. Derek rolled his eyes.

The forest was in full glory around them, the trees reached high into the air, branches creating a canopy that filtered light down to the ground below. Song birds filled in the empty noise with their harmonious backdrop. The other unseen residents of the forest stayed at a distance, wary of those who broke the usual stillness.

Derek took a step forward and scanned the ground. He wasn't lost, Derek knew this part of the forest well. It was where he came to train without hunter interference, he just had to regain his bearings. He had to find a marker. He scanned some more. There, out of the corner of his eye he spotted it, a purple wolfsbane flower posing under a jutting rock.

"This way," he motioned with his head and hiked on.

"Oh boy." Stiles' muttering reached his ears again, coated with annoyance. If Derek had it his way Stiles would walk ahead, so that he could enjoy the spectacular view. Stiles had chosen to wear a nice fitting tank, gray at the top that faded into blue at the chest, that showed off his rarely seen muscles and well toned physique. But since he was the only one who knew the way he had to settle for having his obsession at the back of him, taking in his scent that drifted forward. It filled his nose with hints of cinnamon, cedar wood, and sugar.

"Derek switch bags with me." Scotts voiced carried up from the back of the line.

The alpha spared the other wolf a glance. Scott looked almost comical carrying the large pack on his shoulder that held a majority of their camping supplies. It's big bulking mass gave him the appearance of a turtle. Derek's bag in comparison was a little over a third of its size.

"No, you need the strength training." He adjusted the smaller bag on his shoulders, flexing his back just to rub it in.

Scott fixed a look that he hoped would burn through his "mentor's" skull.

"Well how much longer until we get there? Wherever there is," he asked.

Derek smiled. "We'll be there by sundown," he lied.

Stiles and Scott looked up at the sun peering through the canopy straight above them.

"Fuck!" they exclaimed in unison.

After twenty more minutes they settled into a more amble walking pace. Stiles hummed his current favorite song to himself, eyes darting around absorbing the green world that surrounded him. He wasn't annoyed at all over the fact that they were going for a long walk. In fact he was more upset that they had left before he had time to read the newest chapters of Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. Despite being a teleporter he simply couldn't teleport to any place he couldn't picture in his head or else he could end up anywhere. The first time he had tried it when he was thirteen he had ended up inside of a Victoria's Secret dressing room, occupied. Results aside, it was one of his proudest moments.

Derek knew the way, so they had to follow Derek. He just didn't think their little camping trip was a great idea to begin with. Things around Beacon Hills had been getting increasingly violent with Peter and the Argents. He felt it was critical that they stay in town in case anything happened. Thanks to his dad's detective work, some snooping on his part, and the trail of bodies Derek's uncle was leaving behind they had a basic idea of his next targets. Sure the three of them couldn't cover all their bases at once, but with his power he could damn sure try.

'Hell I can go to China for real dumplings and a Pikachu doll and back before Derek finishes shaving the fur off his ass. I can even visit all seven continents and come back sooner than the time it takes Scott to get a clue."

He thought back to a couple of days before when Derek had first proposed the trip to him and Scott:

The three of them were assembled in an alleyway behind a warehouse opposite the part of town Allison said the Hunters were patrolling that night. They were meeting for the first time since Scott had saved Derek from Kate, Allison's aunt a couple of nights ago. While Scott had tracked him down Stiles ran interference keeping Peter away from Scott's mother. Currently Derek was on the subject of battle strategies, realizing that all the separate dangers were beginning to drift closer together. The climactic end was soon to be upon them.

"So you can't teleport a knife into his heart, or silver bullet? Anything?!" Derek was leaning over the hood of Stiles' Jeep, intense, and searching for answers to their problems.

"No, besides being rude it just doesn't work like that ok," sighed out Stiles. He was happy to help anyway he could but his power had its limits.

"Well how come?" Scott asked, he was a bit disheartened that things couldn't be that easy, but he was glad to be learning something new and intriguing about his friend for once in a long time instead of the other way around.

Stiles stood up and stretched. "Well when I teleport," he began, "it's a two step process." He held up five fingers on his right hand. "First I reach out with my mind, I picture where I want to go and it's like when I do my mind reaches out and puts a marker there." He put his pinky down and replaced it on his left. "Then my molecules kinda just break and split apart." He flashed his fingers for effect. "Then I come all back together, sexy brains and all, over here.." Now his left hand held all five fingers. "Right now in this alley I can go almost anywhere except for where you and Derek are standing."

"Is it cause we're werewolves?" Scott questioned dumbly with a squint.

Stiles didn't even feel the need to make fun of his friend because this was pretty confusing.

"No, it's not that. Ok here, I'll show you." Stiles bent down to pick up a rock from the ground and placed it on the hood of his Jeep, then he cupped his palm to cover it.

"My powers naturally stop me from teleporting into anything solid because my molecules need room to reform and it would be really hard to explain to someone why my face is sticking out of a wall. But with people I couldn't try even if I wanted to. You see," Stiles explained, "the body has its own bio electromagnetic field that makes this kind of interference, so I can't put a marker inside you." Stiles demonstrated his point by poking a finger at his hand covering the rock, unable to get through.

"Well what about whenever you teleport me and Derek? I mean it doesn't feel comfortable at all but we totally go with you when you do it." Derek looked at Scott surprised at the well thought question. Scott did have a point.

"That's different. Anything touching my body naturally gets tuned to, well, me after awhile. When I bring someone else with it's the same process fast tracked. I push through all those little molecule bonds, pretty much rip em all apart," Stiles meshed his fingers together, "and match us up to the same frequency so you can come along for the ride. That's where the nausea comes from, cause I basically just went and turned you into cosmic mush and back in a split second. Not everyone's built like me!" The grin on Stiles' face was smug as he jutted towards himself with his thumbs. "One of a kind."

'True that,'' Derek mused. He needed to clarify one thing Stiles said to see if his plan would work at all.

"So basically if somethings with you long enough you can take it with you or send it on its own."

"Mmmhmm," Stiles nodded.

Derek continued, "But because of a person's bio electromagnetic field you couldn't send a knife into them, even if it's not you, because you can't put one of your markers there?"

Stiles smiled, "Exactly!" He was glad that Derek had come to an understanding that his perfect plan wouldn't work.

"And I doubt you could only take a part of a person instead of all of them, like say, their head," Derek reached for a perfect solution one more time.

"Nope. All or nothing," was Stiles' response.

"Well now we're back at step one," the wolf huffed.

"Oh yea," Stiles' smile fell.

The group was quiet as the three of them pondered a way to deal with the ravaging Alpha. Working together improved their odds against the Alpha, but Derek knew they couldn't just charge at him and hope for the best, they still needed a definitive solution. Scott wanted to ask the Argents for help but he knew that Derek didn't trust them an inch. Stiles didn't either, worried what would happen if they found out he was a faerie. He had forbid Scott to tell Allison about him or anything remotely fae or nemplim related. Scott felt it was important they all work together to end this, but sometimes he didn't know if Allison's family would be able to see past the fact he was a werewolf. They all stood quietly, musing over a solution, until-

"What's the 'V' stand for?"

Derek looked up at Stiles incredulously. "What?"

"The 'V', in VH1, what's it stand for?" Clear, innocent brown eyes met with confused, hardened green ones.

"Stiles we need to focus!" Scott scolded his friend has he swatted him in the back of his head.

"Alright alright!" Stiles shot Scott has dirtiest look as he soothed the stinging at the back of his head. He turned to Derek and in his most serious tone asked, "Have you ever considered sleeping with Kate again?"

"WHAT!?" Derek shouted out all the air in his lungs.

Stiles continued unphased, "Maybe she's doing all of this because she still has a thing for you. Maybe this all just stems from forlorn love not given a chance to breathe. She could just stand a woman torn between her family duty and the teenage passion she still keeps in her heart for you. A high school love tainted by the silver shadow of her family's name that reminded her of the inevitable and drove her into madness. Now she's desperate to interact with you anyway she can. Each bullet at your head a metallic cry for help." Stiles paused.

Both Derek and Scott's faces were painted with mild shock and horror.

"OR maybe she's just a crazy bitch who's jealous you're spending all your time with teenagers. C'mon Derek put those smoldering green eyes to work. Buy her some flowers, tell her her hair looks nice. Give her a Halestorm to cool her off. Smile at her, I know that chin's good for something besides - OH MY GOD if you keep doing that you're going to get lock jaw."

Derek unconsciously unhinged his jaw that was locked tight from restraint. He never wanted Kate to touch him again, still feeling degraded and ashamed from the way she had caressed his body while he was her captive. There was only one person he wanted to have that privilege but right now he kind of wanted to punch him. Stiles opened his mouth to speak again but the scorching glare from Derek made the words fall cold in his throat. Scott just shook his head in disbelief at his friend's ridiculousness and they all fell silent again.

"We're going camping," Derek announced after a long beat.

"Huh?" Scott could hardly handle this back to back confusion.

"Umm, what now?" Stiles' head snapped up from the ladybug he had been trailing on the ground. Scott and Stiles leaned back against the latter's Jeep awaiting this newest developments explanation, while Derek stood across from them, arms folded.

Derek returned their confused looks with a stern one of his own. "Like I said, Stiles, "he emphasized, "we're going camping."

Stiles' faced raised into a warm smile, "Someone's been watching the Dora the Explorer marathon haven't they?"

"Shut up Stiles!" Derek bared his teeth.

"Derek," the younger werewolf spoke, "Why would we go camping at a time like this? If you haven't noticed your uncle is out there KILLING people! He's trying to make me kill people! And he's trying to date my mom!"

"I know Scott," Derek said in a softer voice to try and ease the teens tension. "Look, I know my uncle. Even before he went mad from the fire he was always ruthless and cunning when it came to a fight. We already know why he killed the video store clerk, and those two men in the woods. He's going after anyone involved in the Hale fire." Derek stopped for a second, remembering how Scott had told him how Peter had really killed his sister for power. It made his heart freeze and his blood sear, that his own uncle had taken Laura's life, just to be Alpha. He took a deep breath to detach himself from the rage.

"We know why he wants you Scott. He wants you to join his pack so that he can be stronger. He wants you to kill your friends. He wants you to kill me. He may want to see others suffer and hurt, but he also has a flair for the dramatic. If there's no one around to watch his show then he won't even bother to go on. We need to train hard and come up with a good plan or else we're done for, and you need to learn how to control your instincts better so he can't turn you against your friends, which I can teach you. If me and you aren't here Scott he won't have anything to do."

"Are you crazy? What about my mom?" Scott's voice was thick with fear and worry.

"He's only trying to get close to your mom to torment you. If you're not here she'll be fine," Derek reassured.

Stiles spoke up, "You sure about that? Cause if I were a murdering fuzzy panda Alpha getting close to someones mom just to fuck with their head and said person left for a minute? I'd definitely sleep with their mom to rub it in their faces when they got back. Kinda like a 'While You Were Out' type of thing. You know?"

Scott's face instantly paled.

"My uncle's gay! She'll be fine. Trust me," Derek gritted out.

"Oh"

Derek shoot out a look that read 'you're not helping!'.

"What about Allison?" the nervousness from Scott's teenage heart trickled up and cracked his voice.

Derek's head hurt from trying to find a way to understand Scott's lovesick way of thinking. "I think she seemed pretty fine when she was shooting exploding arrows at us the other night with Kate."

Scott huffed his chest in indignation, ready to defend his girlfriends honor. Derek sighed, he really wanted to avoid a fight, especially with Stiles' best friend.

"Look, she's surrounded by a family full of trained and armed werewolf hunters. She will be just fine. Protected and safe, the way her parents want. Any other objections?"

The younger wolf glared him down, err, up. Derek could see him examining his plan from every angle trying to find the one point that would make it crumble. He decided that when this was all over he would work on making Scott trust him more so that things could operate much smoother.

"Fine," Scott said with an almost childlike pout and crossed his arms. Derek gave a breath of relief, then he paused, remembering someone. He turned his attention to Stiles who was looking at him with those melting chocolate brown eyes he loved. They were taking him in, Derek could tell that like Scott he was turning his plan upside down in his head. He was more afraid of Stiles' reasons than Scott's. Stiles was smart.

"You don't have any objections?" Derek asked their faerie counterpart, keeping his face stoic. He prepared himself to mount a defense.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Stiles replied flatly, still looking at him.

"That's it?" Derek asked wearily.

"Yep." Derek was surprised. Stiles' face had an expression he couldn't read. He was beginning to grow uncomfortable under the calculating gaze.

"Ok then, make up a good excuse to tell your parents. I'll come get you guys on Thursday. Come prepared."

And so that was how they had ended up in the woods following Derek to nowhere. Scott and Stiles had both told their parents it was for some kind of lacrosse bonding exercise, and being the busy career parents they were, they didn't scrutinize it too much. Stiles had even forged up fake permission forms for them to sign, leaving them free to tramp through the woods.

"We're almost there" Derek announced to the two behind him. They had come across wide stream with large rocks to step on littered across. This was one of their final markers.

Scott huffed out a groan from under the weight of his backpack. He would be relieved when they finally made it to wherever they were going. He stopped for a second noticing that Stiles was looking at him.

"You want me to teleport you across?" Stiles asked his friend, eyeing the large bag heaped on his back.

"No, I got this." Scott was determined to show Derek he wasn't weak. Stiles just shrugged his shoulders and turned around, ready to cross the stream. Scott eyed him, mulling about how much he had changed since coming out to him about his powers. It was still Stiles, but more of a new Stiles. It made him sad that they never really had a chance to talk much like they did since all this craziness had started. Now, he thought, was the perfect chance to start.

"Hey Stiles"

"Yea Scott?" Stiles was focused somewhere else.

"Tell me more about those faerie defenses." Up ahead Derek's ears perked up. He was curious if Stiles would answer his friend's question.

"What do you mean?" Stiles kept his gaze focused on the rocks in front of him, careful to make sure he landed on top of it and not in the river.

"Well when you told us about how you fought off the Alpha you said 'I had to use one of the faerie defenses.' 'One of,' I'm assuming there's more. Right?" Scott asked remembering the story Stiles told him and Derek.

"Right," Stiles answered as he hopped from a rock and landed perfectly on another. "Well," he said as he prepared to jump onto the next, "I guess I can tell you about the rest. Might as well know anyway, since I might have to use em one day, and it won't help if you're freaking out cause you don't know what's going on."

Scott was pretty sure it was the anticipation that lifted him as he jumped across the rocks ahead of him. He was really curious about what else a faerie could do. Derek didn't give any indication he was listening but in truth he was all ears.

"Ok, so the first thing you must know before learning about the faerie defenses is that they were -" the teen turned teacher turned around to see his friend gasping in air, in the starting grasp of a sneeze. "PINEAPPLE!" he shouted.

"Whaa?" Scott stopped mid gasp and stared at his friend.

Stiles explained his outburst,"I read somewhere that if you say the word pineapple while someone is about to sneeze it'll stop it in its tracks. It's supposed to be such a confusing word it short circuits the brain and makes it forget about sneezing. Did it work?"

Scott noticed the tingling in his nose was completely forgotten, "Umm, yea," he smiled at his best friend.

"Good," Stiles smiled back, turning around to keep moving forward.

Derek rolled his eyes, mentally willing the boy behind him to get on with his explanation.

"As I was saying," Stiles continued, "the faerie defenses were mainly invented as a way for faerie's to protect themselves and the nymph's around them in situations their powers normally wouldn't help them in. Nephilim's, being beings of pretty much pure energy didn't have this problem cause they could adapt to almost anything. That was their power, adaptability. They could've just went around the world as a bunch of dancing suns but instead they took physical forms to react with humanity better. The defenses are based off the belief that, as beings of part energy ourselves, we faes could still adapt to a situation past our physical limits. There's seven of them. The first is Defense Number One, the Golden Array. That one's pretty simple, you just make the symbol with your hands, kind of like this triangle thing, and it lets you sense any other faerie within a five mile radius, kind of like Google Maps. It's so that if anyone's in trouble they can find the help that they need. It was made by the 'god', known then, as Athena. Athena was way different from the other Nephilim around her in that she was always observing, and striving to understand the human world around her. She wanted others to be able to share this information freely on their own and so she developed the array. This way faerie colonies could stay connected and pass along information. When you've got a ton of people doing it together it operates on a whole different scale, but when it's just one it can pretty much only be used for what I said before. I've never used it or experienced it but according to my mom the side effects leave you with bad migraines and nausea." Some robins flitting through the tree branches overhead caught Stiles' attention as he talked.

Up ahead Derek listened intently, filing all of this information away for later mental examination. He remembered back to when he first confronted Stiles about his nephilim powers and how the other boy had told him there wasn't much else besides teleport he could do. He had even bribed him with his favorite Cold Stone that he had to stake out for three days to find out. It was becoming apparent that wasn't really the case. There was far more his brunette obsession was capable of.

"Faerie Defense Two is Enthralling. This ones pretty simple and the least harm-" Stiles paused. He noticed Derek had slowed his pace ahead of him, too focused on his words. If Stiles kept walking at the speed he was he would bump right into the man in front of him. Stiles chuckled in his head. He couldn't pass up any opportunity to catch Derek off guard, it would be rude.

"You know what? I don't wanna talk about this anymore. Scott ask me something else."

A loud frustrated grunt sounded from up ahead.

"What was that Derek?" Stiles' innocent voice asked.

"Nothing, keep moving!" was his rough reply.

Stiles grinned evilly, proud in his moment of tripping up Derek Hale.

Scott was oblivious to the whole exchange, more focused on finding out more information about his friend than Derek and Stiles' constant bickering acrobatics.

"Well what else are you willing to tell me?" he prodded.

The lacrosse team benchwarmer studied the eager look on his friend's face.

"Umm, I know! I'll just tell you some basic faerie facts. I don't think we ever went over those. Did we? No? You don't know? Whatever." Stiles pivoted to keep hiking forward. "So basically faerie's are good at three things: fighting, dancing, and fucking. The Three F's."

Eavesdropping again Derek's breath hitched on the last one.

"But Stiles' that's only two-"

"SOMETIMES I change the dancing to 'frolicking', so it works! Gosh Scott for someone who can't find Lana Del Rey on a map you sure are a grammar nazi."

"I told you I didn't know she was a singer at first!" Scott defended himself.

His best friend rolled his eyes, "Anyway, as I was saying, those are the three F's. All fae are pretty badass fighters, we're pretty much born with natural fighting instincts and reflexes. We love to fight. "

"Well arent' faeries supposed to be all about peace? That doesn't sound very peaceful." Scott questioned.

"Don't believe everything you read Scott buddy. Fae way of life is all for keeping the peace, but when it comes to our own affairs we do what we have to. During election time despite what each candidate has to say and what their stance is on certain issues we tend to lean towards the better looking one, right? I mean look all our presidents. Sure a couple of them look like the bottom of my big toe but the rest are pretty decent looking, and their opponents were butt ugly. Well what do you do when your whole race is just really good looking? Who's going to stand out above the rest? Both sides have valid arguments but there's no clear decision? Easy, you beat the crap out of the other person until they give. That's faerie politics. So after centuries of fighting each other for dominance, and fighting off armies trying to capture us, it kind of just became genetic. I've been fighting at like a black belt level since I was around 8."

'Woah," thought Scott, "That explains all those crazy moves!'"

"And did you guys have dance battles too?"Derek's sarcastic tone just brushed off Stiles, who knew he was still upset about earlier.

"Nope. That also just comes natural. Being part energy and having all that magic inside you has its perks and its downfalls. I don't really wanna explain that one much, it's complicated and starts to sound a lil hippie-ish. Maybe over s'mores!" Stiles clapped his hands together, lips getting wet thinking about the sugary goodness of graham crackers combined with marshmallows and chocolate.

"But I'll skip straight to the last one, even thought it's kind of connected to the dancing thing. Faeries-," Stiles paused for effect, "are sluts! We don't really care who we get it from. Girl, guy-" up front Derek let out a loud groan-"as long as we get it. And we take and give it good. Or so I've been told."

Scott's eyes were wide and his ears were burning, red from his friends lack of shame. "Umm, well that's good to know man."

"Yeaaa," Stiles drawled out.

"We're here!"

Scott and Stiles both stopped and looked past Derek. Ahead of him was a wide open clearing completely void of trees, making an almost perfect circle. The trees on the side stretched up high overhead as if trying to poke the sun. Large rocks littered the ground here and there. The whole area was pretty expansive they both noted as they walked around.

"Hey," Stiles crouched down to examine a large carving he had come across in the center of the space. Three spirals connected to each other at the center. He ran his fingers over the smooth stone, recognizing the image from somewhere.

"This is the same thing you have tattooed on your back," he said looking to Derek.

Derek nodded in affirmation, "These," he gestured around him, "are the Hale campgrounds. We use to come here to train, get away, and get back to nature." He grew sad for a moment remembering his little brother and sister and their younger cousins running around the place.

He shrugged the bag off his shoulders. "You two start setting up camp. I'm going to get some firewood, and when I come back we're going to start training."

Scott more expelled his bag from his person rather than took it off. Finally relieved of his burden he slumped to the ground. His friend walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder to signal that he could rest.

"Oh goodie, more opportunities to punch you in the face!" Stiles smiled at Derek.

"We'll see about that," Derek gave a small grin back before turning to leave the other two to do what he asked.

Walking through the forest Derek's mind drifted to a lot of things. His family, the Argents, Scott, Laura, but mostly on everything Stiles had said. Specifically the part about fairies not caring "who they got it from". With one sentence his whole body had been filled with hope and his heart was on edge from anticipation. This meant that his Stiles was bi by nature, and that he had more of a chance then he previously thought. He grabbed his head in frustration, and ripped the chunk out of the closest tree when his skull couldn't take the pressure anymore. It was bad enough that he had accepted that he was twenty four and in love with sixteen year old, but now he had been given legitimate hope that it wouldn't go unrequited.

"Fuck it. Three days alone in the woods. I'm either going to kiss the shit out of him before this over or kill Scott trying. "


	8. How to Get Besos

"DUDE GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!"

Stiles flailed his arms at the offending body mass invading near his presence. The mass in question froze, startled, and slightly eased itself back from the boy. From the other side of the campsite Scott eyed his two camp mates, on edge after hearing the outburst. His body was tensed in case he needed to run and stop a fight.

"I-I was just trying to help you-" Derek Hale stuttered out.

"Well I can do this on my own thank you very much! What's your problem anyway?" Stiles asked Derek suspiciously. His eyes narrowed as he examined the other man, trying to decipher his current intent.

Ever since Derek had come back from collecting the firewood earlier he had been acting strange towards Stiles. During the camp set up he had insisted on taking over most of Stiles' task, and even during their quick sparring match he seemed to be holding back, going for grabs and holds instead of his usual swipe and blitz fighting style. This had forced Scott to pick up the slack, making him work harder to hold ground during the battle. Even now, as Stiles was setting up the base to make their campfire Derek had come to take over. He was just putting rocks in a circle for christ sakes! It was like Derek had suddenly decided he was weak and it had him infuriated.

"This isn't my first time camping dude. I've done all of this stuff before, ask Scott. I don't need you doting over me like an overprotective mom. If you want to help me why you don't go pee over there to mark your territory or something and keep the other wolves away so they don't eat us."

The look of hurt that crept into Derek's eyes and over his slack face snapped Stiles out of his angry tirade. Derek seemed unsure of what to do with himself for a moment. Stiles was about to consider giving him an apology when the green eyes settled into their usual intense glare and Derek's face hardened back into place.

"I was just trying to help. If you don't want it that's fine!" Derek growled and stomped away into the woods. Stiles let out an elated sigh of relief, happy to have some freedom from the older man. He didn't mean for it to come about so harshly but he figured the big, dark Derek Hale could take it.

"Hey man you alright?" Stiles looked up from where he was kneeling to see Scott above him, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Yea," Stiles said as he tossed the logs into place. "I just don't know what his deal is."

"Yea, me either," Scott agreed. His eyes looked to where Derek had disappeared through the trees, but his mind was for off, trying to find the explanation for his fellow wolfs odd behavior.

Derek hadn't gone to far. Just far enough so that he could let his frustration at his failed advances out. He grumbled up a small storm and kicked at the ground below his feet, sending dirt and bark exploding into the air.

'That had all been a total failure!' he berated himself as the dirt settled back to the ground. 'I have no idea how to go about this. I started with all of my best moves but dammit Stiles is different from anyone I've been with before.'

He felt a wave of deja vu as he realized that for the second time that fading day he was in the woods, frustrated, with Stiles filling his brain, but he was right. Stiles was unlike any of the other men Derek had been with before. Derek's good looks and general welcoming demeanor usually attracted two type of guys: Slimmer, more twinkish & otter type guys, who saw Derek's rugged good looks and felt the raw power he seemed to emanate and wanted to be dominated by it; and masculine, more arrogant guys who saw his attitude as a challenge. A 'Who could dominate who' match?

Stiles was neither of those things.

'He doesn't, at least from what I can tell, want to dominated and cared for, and he definitely doesn't seem like he wants to try and test his luck and dominate me. No, Stiles stands on his own. Does for others and himself. But fuck I need him to bend a little if he's going to give into me. Wait, am I even his type? WHAT if he likes feminine guys? I can't compete with that at all. Or older daddy/bear types? Shit this beard doesn't even come close and I don't have any leather besides my jacket. Goddammit!'

Derek threw his head back and sighed. He needed a new approach. Trying to show affection by doing the other boys work for him had obviously pissed him off. He would have to go about this more subtly. He took a deep breath, and meditated in the woods for a moment until he felt he was ready to return.

When Derek made his way back to camp it was officially nightfall and he was greeted to the sight of Scott and Stiles huddled around a roaring campfire. The boys were laughing and devouring freshly prepared golden s'mores. Derek stopped to take in the sight of them both so at ease. He knew once he walked up the air would turn a bit more serious, in part because of who he was, and also because of he and Stiles' quarrel earlier.

He made his way over and crouched on one of the nearby logs Stiles had placed around the fire for seats. The boys both paused. Scott's face slowly eased itself from it's wrinkled cheshire pose it had taken on from hearing Stiles' story. Stiles' mouth hung slightly agape, s'more captured just behind his lips. Derek gave them a gruff look, their stunned faces were making him uncomfortable.

'Might as well start over,' he thought.

He took a breath. Scott winced, ready for Derek to spit out something snide about the fact they were eating s'mores for dinner instead of a real meal.

"I'msorry," Derk said fast and in a low hushed tone.

Scott's eyes flew open as his canine sharp hearing registered what he heard. He went to speak.

"Whaaa-"

"Here you go," Stiles interupted.

Before Scott's sentence even began Stiles arm shot out and handed Derek a perfectly made s'more. Derek reached for it slowly, edged on by Stiles' warm smile. He brought it to his lips and made his way through the crunchy walls of graham cracker to the warm white sugar center.

"This is good," he said in his low voice again after a moment.

"Yup," was Stiles' simple reply, warm smile still on his face. Scott watched on and just shook his head, deciding the whole thing would take too much brainpower to figure out then he was willing to commit.

Stiles was still a little upset over Derek's behavior earlier, but he had to admit an apology from Derek was too rare an occurrence. He didn't want to do anything to mess this up, wanting to have a few moments of peace for Scott's sake. The older man quickly took the second s'more offered to him.

"So I think you owe me a rematch for that pitiful excuse of a fight earlier," Stiles poked.

Next to him Scott give a small whine, recalling how he had to take Stiles on pretty much by himself a couple of hours ago. He really didn't want to repeat it again. At all.

"Later. Tomorrow," Derek devoured the molten campfire treat in front of him. Stiles accepted the answer and went to prepare himself yet another s'more. He was on his sixth now, but Scott had him beat with eight. He had a feeling Derek would soon catch up and surpass them both.

Derek looked up to say something to Scott and that's when he noticed it. The strap of Stiles tank top had slid off his shoulder, exposing some of his upper chest. The innocent and sensual view plus Stiles' easy smile set Derek on fire from the inside. To distract himself from doing something drastic, like leaping over a campfire, Derek started talking. He talked about how the Hale family use to come out to the campgrounds every spring to get away. How every summer they took weeks at a time to train. The winter was spent testing their senses and reflexes. He told the two boys across from him how his cousins would join them, and how they and his sister would gallop through the woods terrorizing the wildlife. How his Uncle Peter taught them all the basics of camping, like starting a campfire and how to pitch their tents.

To control his burning arousal, especially from Scott, Derek talked, and talked. He kept a steady trickle of dialogue going well into the night until all three of them were ready to retire to their tents. Scott dreamt of Alison. Stiles dreamt of playing lacrosse if the ball were ice cream. And Derek dreamt that he was asleep, waking up holding Stiles, tank top.


	9. Chp 9 Go

Stiles awoke to a jarring headache, a product of his hangover he developed last night. Sometime during Derek’s lengthy monologue Scott had produced a round of the beers that he had Stiles had procured the night before for the trip. Stiles remembered he that he must have downed at least seven trying to keep with that werewolf tolerance. 

He managed to open his eyes. At least he had made it into his tent. 

'Oh god.'

His stomach did a sloppy somersault. It did not agree with his actions last night. Not at all. He stumbled out of his tent and into the still crisp morning air to give his bladder some time off from it’s night duty. Feeling relieved he made his way back to his tent, hoping to snag a bit more time sleep to himself before the others work up. Ducking his head to push through the opening flaps Stiles froze when he looked up. Right there, next to his discarded sleeping bag, was one Derek Hale, curled up, asleep, lightly snoring and shirt.less. 

Stiles’ eyes had gone anime sized and for a moment he had forgotten how to breath. Why was Derek in his tent, sleeping right next to him ,and WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE MAN’S SHIRT?! Questions, and questions for those questions rose up in his brain and gave him a headache. Thinking the worst he did a quick key point check over his body. 

‘No hickies, bite marks, love bruises, or anything else that could label me as a hussy slut? Check. No unexplained soreness?’ Stiles stopped to take in his body’s status. ‘Check. No weird stickiness? Check. Oh thank goodness. So we didn’t-hmph, well why the hell is he in here?’

Stiles just sat across from Derek, cross-legged, trying to figure out what could've happened last night for Derek to end up in his tent, shirtless. From what he could tell examining his own body and Derek’s shirtless form nothing sexual, or at least too sexual had taken place. As Stiles was pondering to himself the werewolf across the tent began to stir from his sleep. Stiles froze in place, sure whatever was going to happen next probably wouldn’t be good. He could think of one reason for the wolf being here but he really didn’t want to deal with the aftermath if that was it.

Derek began to wake from his deep sleep once he realized the warm feeling that had made him feel so secure wasn’t returning soon. He rolled over onto his back, working his eyes open. The light shining through the tent above told him it was still early. Despite waking so soon he felt alright, great actually. He usually didn’t sleep that well. What had woken him? Mind clearing more he realized he could hear the sound of someone else’s heartbeat thundering away near him. Lifting his head up to locate the source Derek came across a wide eyed Stiles staring at him, he also noticed his own shirt was missing. 

“Morning,” Stiles offered out meekly with a tiny handwave. 

Derek groaned and slung his arm over his eyes, attempting to veil his embarrassment. He didn’t need to be this close to Stiles so early.   
“So,” Stiles continued on, playing with his thumbs to keep himself occupied and not staring at the exposed pecs, rippling abs and toned obliques before him’, “Last night was fun. The s’mores, the drinking, the camaraderie. Seems like we all had a pretty good time. Hey you even ended up in my cozy tent. How exactly did that last one happen again?” he finished with a nervous chuckle. 

“After you got more than a little drunk last night you stumbled off to your tent to go to sleep. I wasn’t about to listen to Scott bitch about Allison or Jackson so we packed it in. But I couldn’t sleep because I could hear your damn teeth chattering from all the way in my tent. So I came over to rip your gums out but decided to help you, despite your gracious acceptance of my help earlier. I figured my body heat would be enough to warm the tent so you wouldn’t die in your sleep.”

“Oh.” Stiles’ back and eyebrows were almost bending at the same angle. 

“And I took off my shirt cause the alcohol was making me hot.” Derek added the last part quickly, still not making eye contact.

“So I didn’t do anything to make you come in here? You came in here completely on your own? All by yourself?” 

Derek looked up at the question. Stiles seemed apprehensive, and he could smell the faint tinge of anxiety wafting off him. “Yea, you were freezing,” Derek answered. 

“And that’s it?” 

“Yes.Stiles,” Derek answered again. He frowned when Stiles let out a relieved sigh. He was getting confused, it was too early for this. 

“Phew, oh boy, I’m glad. I thought I might have accidentally enthralled you and you were gonna snap out of it and try to rip my throat out and then our fighting would wake up and Scott and that would just be- yea I’m so happy I didn’t.” The young brunette was animated again. Derek’s brain could barely keep up with the pace which he was talking

“You brought that up yesterday on the way here. ‘Enthralling’. What is that?’ Derek asked slowly. He sat up looking around the tent for tent for his shirt. 

“Oh yea, I guess I never finished that huh?” Stiles rubbed the back of his head searching for a way to explain to the wolf across from him. He found it. “You think I’m attractive right?” 

“What?!” Derek snapped. He really shouldn’t be this close to Stiles so early. 

“Well yea cause all faeries are attractive,” Stiles went on, ignoring Derek’s usual full angry eyebrows look,” but what if I told you that we’re actually even more attractive than you can see? That we’re actually just so ridiculously good looking that we hide some of it so we can live in the real world and function?” 

“I don’t think I’m following-”

“Ok lets try this. If a hot girl with big titts walks into Jimmy’s how many guys do you think will buy her a drink?” 

“All of them if they’re not stupid or gay.” Derek thought this question was stupid. 

“Exactly! Because they’re all so focused on her ample titts they’ll do anything for her. Most girls don’t like this kind of attention so they cover their boobs up. Think of my face as my titts!....Wait that came out all wrong. Ugh. Basically every nephilim has on like this invisible mask made from a bit of their power that’s always there to hide some of our face, so you can’t see how hot we are all the time. When we really need to we can take it off and whoever sees us without it pretty much instantly kinda falls in love and will sorta do whatever we want cause they’re so sprung. I was worried I got drunk and accidentally did that to you. Understand?”

The older boy thought he had a better idea of what Stiles was trying to say now, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure. “So if I reached out right now and grabbed your face, I’d pull a mask off?” 

“No man! You don’t actually ‘take it off’ take it off, it’s more like a feeling, plus it’s magic so you couldn’t touch it anyway, and you can’t Enthrall someone till you’re sixteen. “

“There’s a legal age for this shit now too?” 

“Well yea, it’s a precaution. Faerie Law placed way way back that affects every born nephilim. Otherwise you’d have supermodel hot kids running all over the place with politicians and world leaders by their ties doing whatever they want. My mom use to always tell me that Enthralling was one of the most dangerous faerie defenses because it took away someone's free will and created false emotions that you would regret later. “

“And you were worried that you did that to me?” 

“Well, yea, I was kinda drunk.”

“I just came to keep you warm,” Derek’s gruff tone told Stiles that was the end of the matter. 

“Well, thanks. I’m um, gonna go wash up now. You said there’s a river not too far from here right?” Stiles got up, grabbing his things and left the tent leaving Derek there alone. 

Derek felt like he had just missed something. He could understand why Stiles was so worried if he had used the enthralling thing on him, but just now he could’ve sworn he saw a tinge of sadness Stiles’ in this warm brown eyes. Where had it come from though, because he hadn’t enthralled him into coming into his tent? Derek thought some more. It popped up right after he told Stiles he was only there to keep him warm. 

‘Did he want me to be here for something more? No, I can’t be that lucky.’

Yet still Derek felt like something was all wrong. After sitting pondering to himself for at least twenty minutes Derek decided to follow his instincts and go to the stream. It could seem innocent enough, after all he needed to get clean too. 

The walk to the stream wasn’t long, he had dragged his feet along the way still unsure if he should go there or not. When he finally arrived the sight he saw took his breath away. The picture in front of him was so serene. There was Stiles, the object of his obsession, floating idly in the middle of the river, head just above the water, very naked. The other boy was glistening. If he wasn’t enthralled before he definitely was now. Derek was paralyzed, after a few seconds he had to remind his brain to breathe again. Doubt instantly came to his brain’s forefront. 

‘What can I offer that? He’s so too beautiful for me. No! I can do this. I can do this. I will do this. I said I’d get in a kiss by the end of this trip and I’ll be damned if I fail.’

At first our hope filled wolf approached the river slow, scared the other boy might teleport away at any moment like in the past, but realizing sneaking up on him would probably cause that to happen anyway he adopted a more normal pace. 

Hearing movement Stiles turned around in the water. 

“Oh hey, you’re here. Umm I’m pretty much done, so I can get out now so you can, uhh, yeaa.” Stiles began making his way to the edge. 

“No!- I mean, no it’s fine, stay. Finish what you need to, there’s enough river for both of us.” Derek was trying to sound as calm as possible, he needed the young fae to stay. 

“Only if you’re sure.” Stiles eyed the man across from him wearily, expecting a sudden shift in mood.

Instead of answering Derek just began to remove his own clothes to get into the water. “Okay then,” he heard Stiles say as he pulled his shirt past his head. Sliding his black briefs down below his waist he noticed the boy in the water had turned around again. Grudgingly he hid his annoyance. He had been trying to put on a tempting show. 

He waded in not too far from where Stiles was and began to clean more out of nervousness than need. Stiles was quiet, which was completely unusual for him. It almost seemed unnatural. He was about to give up his pursuit again when he remembered the look he had seen on Stiles’ face right before he left the tent. That look had brought him here. As he stared at Stiles’ back, trying to figure out what to say he realized that there were strong cords and hard mounds just under the other’s skin. 

“You work out a lot. I can tell,” his low spoken words cutting easily through the quiet air. 

‘Holy fuck he spoke!’ Stiles was so focused on not accidentally peeing in the water because he was sure a werewolf would smell it even with the current that he was shocked when Derek actually said something.

‘Did he just compliment ME on my muscles? Dudes ripped like a Beyblade! Why would he point that out?’ Stiles realized he was doing all this talking in his head and not actually out loud. He turned around to be met with Derek’s moss green eyes taking him in. 

“Thanks, but its mostly genetics,” he replied. He hadn’t realized Derek was so close. 

The small smile on Stiles face had Derek’s stomach doing its own opening ceremony of the London Olympics. ‘I can do this.’

“Well still, it looks good. The front’s not that bad either. You’re stronger than you look, but I already knew that.”

“Surprises and sarcasm, I’m all over it. Hell I even sass the weights when I go to the gym, not that I actually go to the gym though. Too many naked old dudes, it’s just gross man. And then they sit everywhere! Don’t even put a courtesy balls to fabric towel barrier down. Ridiculous.”

Stiles constant talking put Derek more at ease, it was familiar and the normalcy gave him more confidence. 

“And what if you like got close enough and there were little gray ha-”

“About last night,” the werewolf cut Stiles off,”I wanted to be there, I didn’t mind. I wasn’t angry I was in your tent or anything.” He drifted slightly closer to Stiles. 

“I really appreciate it. I guess I should have come more prepared and brought a heavy blanket. Though I can always pop back home and grab it and be back before anyone even notices I’m gone. And I’m super glad I didn’t do anything to you we’d both regret last night, definitely taking it easy next time.”

“Are you sure you would’ve regretted it?” There was a heavy husk to his voice, his eyes were focused on the lips agape in front of him.

“Umm, what do you mean?" Stiles suddenly felt his mouth go dry. When did Derek get so close? 

“Would you really have regretted dragging me into your tent last night, under your spell?” He could hear Stiles’ heartbeat reaching breakneck speeds. 

“Of course! It would have been against your will and that’s just-”

“I only hear you saying about how it would be against my own free will and not cause it’s me,” Derek could do this, it played out so perfectly in his head, “and I already told you I didn’t mind being there. I wanted to be.”

Before Stiles could open his mouth to respond he founds his lips wrapped in a warm soft embrace. Derek had leaned in and kissed him. He couldn’t believe it! Everything about the kiss was amazing. He had already been floating in the water but now he felt truly weightless, like he could soar. His brain was struggling not to overload or maybe it was the lack of oxygen. Even the water around them felt warmer and Stiles swore to god he didn’t pee. After a long moment of just taking in the feel of Derek’s lips against his he reached out and pulled him in deeper. Hearing the content sound of Derek respond he finally understood what had been going on with him, with them both, all this time. 

Derek was content to just let the world slip by as he and Stiles shared their first kiss. He couldn’t believe he’d finally managed the courage. At first he thought the young boy was about to have a heart attack the way his heartbeat peaked into almost one continuous sound, but once he heard it calm and slow into a slow steady rhythm all the fear of rejection and anxiety he had been building up for months melted away. It took all his willpower to pull away from the source of his inner happiness and he had to muster up even more to look him in the eyes. There was so much he wanted, needed to say, but he didn’t want to scare off Stiles. Fear or anger wasn’t present in the warm brown eyes across from him just curiosity and a look of wonder. 

The placated werewolf closed his eyes back and leaned his forehead against Stiles’ paler one. Stiles, who still hadn’t said anything yet just wrapped his arms around Derek’s back. They stayed like that, just drifting close for the longest time. Both worried any sound would make the moment fragile and it would break.

“You don’t have dog breath.” Of course Stiles would be the first to speak and dodge past all the major issues.

“Nope.” Dereks own voice sounded tense to his ears as he tried to hold back a flood of emotions. 

“So that really happened, huh? How long?” 

“A while now.” 

“Was all this before or after you threatened to rip my throat out?” He groaned as he heard the smile on Stiles’ lips, he had hoped his horrible behaviour in the beginning wouldn’t be a roadblock now. 

“What now? What do you want to happen next? You want us to be like sex buddies? That’d be some serious crossbreeding.” The teleporter was fascinated with this open side of Derek. He was so unfamiliar, but he needed to know what was going on before he could do anything. 

Derek couldn’t help but start to harden the moment the word sex slipped past Stiles’ beautiful lips. Thinking of the stupid sounds he heard Scott make kissing Allison once he distracted himself before his “problem” reached the boy inches across from him. As much as he wanted that he didn’t want Stiles’ to thank that’s all this was for him. That that’s all he was to him. 

“No. I want-I want more,” his feelings expressionism was rusty. “I want you. I want this,” he nudged his forehead against Stiles, “I want there to be an us. I want more of what you give me.”

Stiles listened as Derek seemed to fight out his words. Words that moved him. He didn’t feel the same way that Derek felt about him now, there was just so much other stuff in the way, and he wasn’t sure what he meant by what Stiles gave him, but he did know that something could be there. He knew because despite himself he had been ignoring it for months worried what would happen if the man expressing his feelings to him right now found out. Now that he knew he nothing to worry about he was willing to see where this could go, yet he knew there were so many obstacle, together and separate, they had to face, the main one being Derek’s past.

“But you’re so broken,” Stiles said in a quiet voice. He didn’t mean it as a rejection, just a statement of fact. 

Derek’s heart clenched as he realized what Stiles was referring to. His house being burned down with his family inside, being used by Kate, losing Laura, finding out it had been his Uncle Peter who had killed his sister. So many things that had left him in a dark tiring place he wanted to get out of, but he knew he couldn’t do it alone. He needed help. He wanted the help. 

“You can help me pick up the pieces,” he offered, thankful it didn’t sound like a beg. 

“We’ll see, but first things,” was the simple answer Stiles gave as he came up to lay a kiss on Derek’s forehead. 

Derek knew he was talking about their problems at hand. His murderous uncle, and Scott’s love obsession’s family, the Argents. They had to take care of those first. Yet he felt near the top of world. Stiles hadn’t rejected him and even was willing to give him a chance once they finished with this mess, he couldn’t wait. Derek felt a little bit of him lighten up again at the smile resting on Stiles’ face. He got lost in it again until he realized Stiles was talking to him. 

“Alright, lets head back before Scott wakes up and burns down the campsite trying to cook for himself.” 

They both headed toward the edge of the water. Stiles pulling Derek into another kiss before turning to dry off and put his clothes back on. Once they were both dressed Derek tentatively reached for Stiles’ hand. He let out the breath he had been holding as Stiles took his hand in his, and they walked back to their camp together.


	10. Two Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Teen Wolf. Thank god, cause at the rate I upload new chapters we'd still be in season 1 lol. I'm so sorry guys. Special thanks to Alice Deathwalker for all the wonderful feedback and constantly pushing me to work on new stuff.

"So let me get this straight, Scott's a werewolf now, all these crazy murders around town are being done by the formerly comatose Peter Hale for revenge, and the Argent's are werewolf hunters?" Sheriff Stilinski tried to keep the facts straight as he slurped down a chocolate milkshake.

"Yup, that's pretty much it," his son responded through a mouthful of fries.

"And now," the Sheriff waved his fork for emphasis, "you're working with the same Derek Hale you and Scott had me arrest to help him stop his uncle, who was the one who really killed his niece, from murdering more people?"

"It sounds much weirder when you say it like that." Stiles started sipping on his own milkshake, strawberry because it always reminded him of his mother.

"In addition to that, all of these victims are somehow connected to the Hale fire, started by Kate Argent?"

Stiles nodded his response to his dad's question too occupied with the strawberry deliciousness running down his throat to use words.

"And that also makes Allison a werewolf hunter, who's dating Scott, who is a werewolf," he was running out of fries.

"Well hunter-in-training, she sort of just found the skeletons in the family closet."

"Scott and his dad both have a habit of going for women way out of their league," the teens father mused.

"You know what they say, like father like son," Stiles said as he watched his dad finally get to his burger. He had always had a habit of devouring his fries first before moving onto the rest of his food because "they didn't taste the same cold".

"Then how do I explain you?" the Sheriff teased.

"Not funny," his son replied with an indignant huff. "Besides, I take after mom anyway."

"Don't I know it," the Sheriff groaned as his son referred to his fae powers. He was hoping they wouldn't get him into any trouble after his mother was gone but now he can see he that was wishful thinking.

"We obviously need to get this situation taken care of before more people get hurt, has Derek formed something of a plan?"

Stiles knew his dad wouldn't like what they had come up with so far but he put it out there anyway.

"We've been training so that we can take him head on-" Stiles started.

"Absolutely not!" his fathered glowered.

"It's the only way we can cure Scott!" Stiles argued.

"There's not some kind of spell or something you can use to change him back? What about those chain you said Derrick gave him? Don't those just stop him from shifting? " the Sheriff pleaded. He didn't want his son facing this kind of extreme danger, with his best friend and a murder suspect no less.

"Spells? C'mon dad. This is real life not a movie. Unless mom has some old witch friends lying around that's not gonna happen. Plus even with the silver he'd still have to make a constant conscious effort to keep his powers down. He can barely focus his thoughts for ten minutes, let alone his whole life. We have to defeat Peter and let Scott take the finishing blow so he can lift the curse and go back to normal. The supernatural stuffs not for him."

The Sheriff looked across at his son with eyes full of pride at Stiles' determination to help his friend. Willing to risk himself if the face of danger to help just one person. He definitely took after his mother.

"Fine," he gave in, "but you're not doing it alone."

Stiles let out a breath of relief. "Scott wants to ask the Argent's for help. Increase our chances with their skill and numbers."

"Only problem with that is you have to worry about them double crossing you to take out Derek and Scott the moment it's all over," mused his dad.

"Exactly," Stiles said solemnly. He and Derek had both been hesitant on that suggestion.

"Scott's not exactly the most thorough thinker at times is he? Like father-"

"Like son," Stiles chewed out around his last fry.

After lunch with his dad Stiles set out to find Derek. He could have just called the him, but he wanted to talk to him face to face. On top of needing to go over their plan of attack, recruiting the Argent's, and informing him that his dad now knew all the details, they still needed to discuss what happened in the woods. Other than some touches here, and a glance there when Scott wasn't looking they really hadn't explored what was going on between them. It was nagging Stiles.

He parked his Jeep outside of the burned down home and made his way up the stairs.

"Derek," he called to announce himself before opening the door. No one answered him so walked around some more. "Der, are you here?" He hoped the werewolf wouldn't mind the nickname, not that he liked any of the others Stiles gave him involuntarily. Still no response. He made his way to the dining room where a figure suddenly pounced at him from the shadows! Thinking fast he quickly dropped to the floor and rolled out the way into a crouch, springing his legs into a kick that knocked out his attackers feet.

"SHIT!" the other person exclaimed as their head met the sharp corner of the dining room table.

"Derek?" Stiles asked recognizing the voice. He watched the wolf get off the ground with a chuckle but gripping the back of his head.

"What the hell Derek!? I almost hurt you!"

"Just trying to make sure you stay on your toes," the injured man answered as he wiped the blood from his healing head wound on his pants.

"Well at least one of us can manage too." Stiles walked over to check on his friends head.

"I'll admit that was a pretty good move," Derek said of Stiles quick thinking maneuver. He closed his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling of Stiles' fingers flitting through his hair to assess the damage. He had hit the table pretty hard but most of it was healed by now.

"So what's with the surprise visit? You should be in school with Scoot right now," not that he minded spending time with Stiles.

"Took a personal day, I had some stuff to take care of," was the answer the boy above him gave. Derek cocked his head up to look at him.

"Don't worry, I've got the grades. I can afford it," Stiles responded at seeing Derek's look. Derek glared into the brown orbs staring back at him urging him to get to the point.

Stiles stared back and sighed. 'Might as well get it over with'.

"I told my dad today," he waited for a response.

"Told him what?" the question was gruff and suspicious.

"Everything. About you, about Scott, your uncle, Laura, the Argents, the plot twist to The Village, all of it," his fingers froze in Derek's hair waiting for his reaction. He didn't have to wait long because as soon as he finished Derek leapt up and rounded on Stiles.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT STILES?!" he snarled.

All pleasantries and good feelings gone. He could hardly look at the other boys pale face without his heart stinging from feeling betrayed. He did not need more people to know his family's secrets. "That wasn't your business to share!"

"My dad's the Sheriff! It is my business because every second he's out there trying to solve these murder cases he's not safe! Murder's committed by your uncle Derrick. He needs to know what he's up against." Stiles wasn't flinching against the snarling older man. Part of him had expected this to be the outcome but he fully stood by his decision. It was for his dad's safety.

"You're putting him in more danger by telling him the truth. Now he's going to go seek out things he shouldn't and get himself into trouble," Derek argued back.

"Do I have remind you I'm his son and he was married to my mom? The supernatural's not new to him Derek. He would've figured it out on his own soon anyway, he's the friggin Sheriff. They don't just give that position to an idiot with a gun. This way he can do his job and protect himself and other innocent people. As much I want to have faith in our awesome Tinkerbell/Alcide/Clifford team combo Peter is bloodthirsty and strong. We need some help from somewhere," the young faerie finished his argument.

Derek remained silent. He was furious that Stiles's had brought his dad into the heat of things without coming to him first, but he understood the other boys reasons. He was just trying to make sure that he was able to keep his father safe. He watched out for the whole town, but Stiles watched out for him. He was just worried about the inevitable questioning that would be coming from the man.

"Which brings me to the second reason I'm here. You know Scott wants to ask the Argent's for help, and he's probably going to do it because he's so desperate to get his life back and try to be with Allison. What we need to worry about is what we're going to do when they double cross us." He put both hands on the tense werewolf's shoulders trying to get him to look him in the eyes.

Derek shrugged off the gesture and turned away, still upset, focused. Stiles was right, there was a large chance they would try to betray them to simply wipe out all the werewolves in Beacon Hills, him and Scott included. He didn't care what Chris Argent said about a code, nothing on this Earth would make him trust anything involving Kate Argent again.

"We need to make damn sure they don't find out about you. As far as I know the Argent's aren't aware of your powers yet or what faerie's even are, and we should keep it that way. For your, and every other faerie's safety," said Derek.

"That's an understatement, but leave that to me. It'll be pretty easy for me to stay out of sight with my powers. Especially in a big fight if the Argent's do join."

"Alright then. We'll deal with the Argents betrayal when we get to that bridge, our first priority should be to get Scott cured, and our second is to be ready to move the hell out of there, granted we survive the first," he finally looked at Stiles to make sure they were both on the same page.

"Agreed." Stiles felt his throat get tight. He had to say it before it left. "Derek about what's going on between us-"

"LETS take care of my uncle and get through all of this first before they we try to tackle anything else. Ok Stiles?" Derek cut him off with a gruff tone.

"Okay. You're right. Baby steps. Little baby puppy wolf steps." Stiles put his hands in his pockets, feeling a bit dejected. "Schools going to be out soon. I should probably head home."

Derek hummed out a noise. With a sigh Stiles walked out to his Jeep.

Scott rushed over to Allison's house as soon as the school bell rang. He wanted to talk to Allison's father as soon as possible. He knew Stiles and Derek didn't agree with his plan, but they couldn't do this on their own. Peter needed to be stopped. He needed to be a normal teenager again so he could be with Allison. They were worried about being double crossed but if he wasn't a werewolf anymore then there would no reason for the Argents to cross them at all. Luckily thanks to his werewolf speed he could bike here and have this whole thing over with before Allison got home. He rang the doorbell and waited. There was movement from the back of the house.

'Deep breaths,' Scott willed himself trying to calm down. His breath hitched as the doorknob clicked.

"Well hello Scott." Chris Argents steely eyes stared back at him from across the threshold. "To what do I owe this surprise visit. I know I it has nothing to do with Allison. Does it?"

"Umm, no sir!" Scott needed to focus. "It's about something else. It's about Peter Hale, and all the attacks that have been going on."

'zzzzzzzzzz!'

Stiles answered the buzzing phone in his pocket, "What's up Scott?"

"They agreed to help! Allison's dad said the Argents will help us take down Peter!"

Scott sounded so ecstatic Stiles almost felt bad for trying to make him see where this could go wrong. "That's great man but how do you know we can trust them? They're sort of the cause to this big mess in the first place."

"Dude it's gonna be ok alright. He said that the Hunters are bound by a code they follow, they can't attack me or Derek without reason."

"Well that didn't exactly stop one of them from attacking a group of defenseless werewolves before did it?" Seriously his best friend could be so naive sometimes.

"Look as long as Allison's dad is there we're fine, and he said if Kate tries to go rogue again he'll stop her personally."

"Great, now I'm worried about that blink of time between her going rogue and him trying to stop her," Stiles sighed.

"Relax bro. We'll take more about this later tonight. We need to tell Derek," with that Scott hung up. Stiles just leaned back in his chair and let out a long groan.

"Do you know why I brought you here?" a nonchalant voice inquired.

"No," Allison responded to the man across from her. Her abductor, Peter Hale, took a few steps forward.

"Oh I think you do dear. I brought you here, because you are so important," he crouched down to her bound level on the floor. "To so many people," he finished his words softly as he stroked a hand down Allison's face. She jerked away . She felt sick having him touch her like this. Her skin wanted to peel itself back at his touch.

"People who want you dead," she spat back.

Peter took in the steely defiance in her eyes with appreciation. He could see the beginnings of a dangerous huntress there. "And I want some of those people dead, so it's a mutual sentiment. More specifically though. I want revenge for what was taken from me. My family."

Allison remained silent, simply watching her captor. A distant look had taken over his face, like he was remembering something, before the fire she guessed.

"You don't need to be scared," Peter cooed, stroking his hands through her hair, "I won't hurt you. I just want to Kate to know the heartbreak that comes from having your family taken from you and knowing even with all your power, you can't stop it."

"That sounds like you plan to hurt me," Allison said matter-of-fact. There was knife hidden in the back of her boots. If she could get to it there was hope she cut through the ropes and try to escape.

"Just play your role like the striking damsel you are and you might make it out of this alive and back to your wondrous Scott," he teased.

"Leave Scott out of this!"

"It was kind of too late for that when I sunk my teeth into him. Agreed?" he said as he held up her phone and searched for the right number to dial.

Scott had spent the rest of his day since his talk with Chris Argent trying to figure out things to do with Allison over the summer. Sure he should be doing homework or something important school related but he was just on cloud nine. With the Argents help they would defeat Peter and he would go back to being a normal boy again. A normal teenage boy who can spend time with Allison. It was perfect. Sure Stiles and Derek kept telling him about their doubts but part of him, a guilty patch near the surface, felt he couldn't trust them because they had been born with their powers. They didn't understand.

'zzzzzzzzzzzzz''

His brows twisted in confusion. Sure it was later but he wasn't supposed to meet with Derek and Stiles for another hour. He picked up the phone dancing on his dresser without looking, "Yea buddy?"

"Oh my dear Scott, I'm glad to see you consider us so close now." The voice that answered sent an ice rush through his gut. Peter. Quickly he eyed the caller id on his screen. "Allison", it read back at him. Peter was calling him from Allison's phone.

"What have you done her?" Scott growled at the werewolf who was the current cause of his problems.

"Nothing at all. We've just been sitting here enjoying each other's company is all. Though she's not really one for words. Honestly Scott I don't see what you and Derek both fell so easily for."

"Your fights with her aunt, Kate, she had nothing to do with the fire. Let her go!" It felt like he couldn't breathe. How long had Allison been alone with Peter? Was Peter going to try to turn her as a strike back at her family?

"Oh I know, and I plan to have my revenge on that monster soon enough. Now Scott be a good boy tell Kate if she wants to see her dear niece returned home, unscathed hopefully, she'll come to atone for her sins, alone. Then keep my wayward nephew occupied. The less interruptions we have the better. Do as I say or I will make you drag those newly minted claws of yours right across sweet Melinda's throat. Understood?" Peter's voiced dripped through the phone with wicked aloofness.

"If you hurt one hair on Allison's head I will kill you!" The ice in Scott's stomached had been replaced with searing fire. His hands trembled as he fought not to crush the offending voice in his grip.

"Hmmm, I might make a werewolf out of you yet. Do hurry though. These days I'm not well known for my patience." Peter hung up the phone leaving Scott disconnected from Allison's fate.

"And now," Peter sat across the room with a grin that made Allison's hair want to stand on end, "we wait."

Fingers flashed across the screen as Scott tried to call Mr. Argent as fast as he could. Waiting for him to pick up felt like an eternity, and every second was Allison's life slipping out of his hands. Voicemail. 'Fuck, no, please'. He mentally willed the older man to answer. Voicemail again. 'Come on!' He would run over there if he had too. Halfway through the third call attempt as he was about to hang up finally Chris Argent answered.

"Hello, Scott? This better have something to do with the fact that Allison's not home yet!" Chris spat out frustrated. It was almost seven and his daughter was nowhere to be found.

"Peter has her! He just called me, he wants Kate to go meet him alone or else he said he'd hurt Allison!" Scott rushed out as fast as his mouth could trying not to waste anymore time. He heard a low rumble emit from his phone.

"That bastards gone too far. This ends tonight! Meet us at the Hale house," the voice of sounded deadly before he ended the call.

The young wolf jumped out his window, taking off full speed toward towards the words. He dialed his best friend as he ran. He heard his breathing before he even said a word.

"Stiles we need to get to Derek's! Peter took Allison and is keeping her there! The Argent's are already on their way."

"What? Holy shit dude. Where are you?" Stiles was frantically dashing around his room grabbing everything he would need. Even though Scott had just made an alliance with the Hunters it looked like they were already facing down the Alpha tonight. Hearing the sudden wave of commotion his father stuck his head in his room to see what was going on.

"Everything alright son?" the sheriff asked as he watched his son try to jump into a pair of pants while holding his phone with his neck at the same time.

"No. Wrong, very wrong," Stiles got out as he wrestled with a zipper, "Peter's taken Allison." He turned his attention back to the phone, "Scott where are you?"

"I'm passing Safeway on Moore." He was a lot farther away from his destination than he wanted to be.

A hard look set on Sheriff Stilinski's face as he watched his son pull on his jacket. "I'm coming." His toned garnered no argument. Faerie or not, he was not letting his son rush head first into danger alone. 'Your mother told me to take care of you and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

His son simply nodded and continued grabbing his things.

The sound of his heartbeat pumping in his ears fueled Scott on as he ran furiously towards his love. He had to make it soon before Peter decided to do anything serious.

**Pooft.**

"Get in!"

Scott stopped running and turned around to see a familiar blue Jeep pull up next to him with Sheriff Stilinksi in the front seat. He hopped in the back without a second thought.

"What are you doing here Mr. Stilinski?" He was trying to figure out what cover story Stiles had given his dad this time so the whole thing wouldn't be blown.

"It's ok Scott, I know everything now. We'll get Allison back."

"Oh." Scott was a little taken aback. Telling his father didn't seem like something he would think Stiles would do, but then again it also made perfect sense. With Stiles and his mother the Sheriff was probably use to things being differentl, so it would makes sense to let him know what's going on.

"Thanks," Scott offered back. They needed all help they could get right now. His head snapped up as he remembered something- "Where's Derek?!"

"I called him as soon as we left the house, he'll meet us there," Stiles said, brunette eyes never leaving the road. "Derek said he had gone out to take care of some things. Peter must've slipped in after he left."

Doing about eighty the rest of the trip it only took six minutes before they came across the mouth of a path that led to the ruined Hale home. At the path's entrance stood one fanged Derek standing off against the armed Argent's.

In a panic Scott rushed out the car and in between the two hostiles. "Derek wait they're on our side now!" He pushed the older wolf back and away from Chris. "I asked them earlier today if they would help us stop the Alpha and they said yes, and that NOTHING would happen to us," he responded to Derek's annoyed look.

"Talk is usually cheap," the older wolf was staring directly at Kate, who stood towards the back of her group. A slight look of disappointment was staring back at Scott's intervention.

"Well just like I assured Scott, we follow the code. No harm will come to the two of you so long as everything goes according to plan and that monster doesn't hurt my daughter. I will personally," Chris turned to stare at his sister as well, "make sure of it."

Victoria Argent spoke up,"As much as I enjoy making pretty little promises-'Siltes snorted' that I won't slit anyone's throat might I remind you that our daughter is currently being kept as bait up there and everyone second here talking is a second she could be getting hurt? So I suggest that we get a move on." She readjusted her rifle on her chest. The two hunters behind her paled.

"Sheriff, how nice of you to join us," she gave a thin smile, "I trust you won't be getting in our way."

"And I trust you won't do anything to make me make me get in your way." He placed his hand lightly on the base of his gun to make sure he was understood. Victoria's smile stretched thinner.

She placed a hand on Scott's shoulder, causing the love struck teen to freeze. "If anything happens to my dear Allison before we get there I will hold you personally responsible." Scott swore his heart stopped beating.

"Honestly if you think about it if anything happens to Allison you should blame Kate, she started this whole thing."

Kate stared at Stiles like he was the Alpha himself and she would bring his end. His father rolled his eyes, giving a silent prayer that between an alpha werewolf, armed hunters, and his son's mouth they would make it out of this alive.

"C'mon Kate, Peter wants you alone, we're going to make him think you're alone. Go ahead up that path to the front of the house." Chris pointed off to the left tracing upwards. "We'll trail a few minutes behind and come from the back, downwind," he pointed off into the trees to their right. "DON'T engage him until we get there, understand?"

Kate rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious, make sure your niece is ok and out of harms way first. Stall him if you have to until we get there," his finger jabbing the point into her chest.

"I got it brother dear."

The wicked smile on her face made Derek's stomach uneasy as memories came back to the surface. When she finally turned to head up the trail he was able to breathe again.

After walking through the woods for nearly ten minutes Kate could see the remnants of the Hale household up ahead. She felt her body sing as she remembered the last time the was there. Breaking in a cellar window, throwing the flames, the sounds of anguish that rose into the air with the smoke from those trapped inside. It was one of her proudest hunting accomplishments.

"No loose ends this time." She placed on boot cautiously on the first step. The front door remained closed. "So we're gonna play this slow then? Alright." Reaching the top of the steps she pushed the charred door open, gun ready. Inside the whole house had an eerie stillness. She listened for any sign of her prey when suddenly a voice rang out.

"My dear Kate, so nice to see you again."

She snapped towards the sound. It was coming from the room directly to her left. Kate was on guard. Taking slight step to her right she peered past the wall for a better look. The first thing she saw in the far corner was Allison on the floor and bound. The stubborn look in the girl's eyes made her chest swell with pride. Kate slowly made her way into the rest of the room.

"How nice of you to join us."

Swiveling to the sound, Kate's eyes were met with Peter Hale sitting at the dining room table. "Please, have a seat," he gestured to the chair across from him.

"Ah Peter Hale, the one I missed. Good to see you're alive and well." Kate took slow steps into the room as she talked. "That just means now I get to finish this whole thing properly." Finally in between Allison and Peter her rifle raised, ready.

The werewolf scoffed at her bold words. "That's funny, you're implying that you actually have a chance at defeating me."

"This time we're going to skip the trip to the hospital and go straight to the morgue you filthy mutt."

Wrinkles formed around Peter's eyes as he smiled at the huntress. Kate took a moment to take him in. The gray blue eyes, the sharp chiseled jaw, those perfect white that peaked just a little through his smile. It made her think if she could go back in time she might have tried to seduce the older Hale instead, not that Derek wasn't attractive back then. Peter just seemed, more. But now they were going to be nothing because Kate was going to kill them both, starting with Peter. Her body tensed slightly as she prepared to pull the trigger.

Peter saw her body tense and was up in an instant, completely ignoring the chair he abandoned being blown to pieces. Claws out he rose and slashed at the sinister blonde's throat, feeling a sweet release as a warm liquid coated his hand.

Behind her aunt Allison sat terrified. One minute both predators were sizing each other up, the next all she hard was a gunshot and a roar. She looked at the profile of her aunt, waiting for her to make another move when suddenly her body just collapsed. Where she stood she could only see Peter, standing there looking like he was in pure ecstasy as he ran his bloody hands over his face. Her aunt was dead. She fought to hold in her tears. She needed to be strong. That's exactly what Kate would want.

Peter's reveling was cut short with the sound of broken glass. Allison quickly curled over and covered her face. Peter stared at her confused. Suddenly a booming flash over took all his senses. He staggered back trying to regain his bearings. A pained breath escaped his mouth as he opened his eyes. Lights still danced in front of everything and he saw double, but he noticed that Allison was gone from the spot she had just been. He heard the sound of footsteps going towards the door through the ringing in his ears followed by a relieved "Daddy!".

Chris embraced his daughter as she ran into his arms. "Oh my sweet baby girl. Did he hurt you?!"

"No, but Aunt Kate, she's- he killed her!" she choked out into his chest.

"It's gonna be ok, I promise," he whispered as he ran fingers through her hair. "We're going to get him. You! Unite her," he guided Allison to the hunter next to him. "Everyone be ready!" The group prepared to take on the beast. The Hunters stood at the front rifles ready for anything, Scott and Derek in the middle for once Peter got through, and Stiles and the Sheriff in the back.

Silence took the air as they all stared at the house, waiting. They could hear no sound from inside. It just stood still, almost as if taunting them. Suddenly an unnerving roar came as a large form shot out straight through the wall from near the top of the house. Bullets flew as the Alpha descended. He brought down his might on his assailant to the far left, the man snuffed out with a sick crunch. He dashed around avoiding the hail of bullets that decimated the corpse.

Victoria tried to slow him down with another of their flash grenades. He barreled around the group, using Scott and Derek as shields against the blast. The hunter and her husband both frantically looked for their target.

"Ahhhghhh!"

The scream of the hunter to their right died out behind them and was replaced with the sounds of Sheriff Stilinski's rifle. They both turned to see Peter's murderous eyes trained on them as his teeth slid through the dead man's shoulder. Just as a tight lipped Victoria took aim a flick of his head sent the body flying towards her. Chris pushed his wife out of the way and let off a few shots of his own. He was sure he had missed but yet he still saw the wolf hunch as if something had hit him. Turning to check on his wife Chris noticed that Stiles was crouched close to them.

'When had he come up from the back?'

He didn't have anymore time to think about it as a chorus of snarls and growls rippled through the air. Turning back to the scene as both he and Victoria got up he saw Derek being flung away from the Alpha.

Derek and Scott had recovered from the after effects of Victoria's flash grenade and had joined the fight. Taking an opening Stiles had created by landing a boosted blow to Peter's shoulder Derek faced his uncle head on striking at his left to distract him while Scott came in from behind. As the black beast shrugged off his attack and flung him away Scott sunk his claws into Peter's closest leg. The pain was audible as the wolf flung his head back, exposed chest then pierced into by two skillful shots from Stiles' father.

Unfazed Peter swiped at the boy attached to his leg. Scott gave a yelp that made Derek wince. Leaping into the air Peter planned to come down fangs first on the Argent couple. Right as he positioned himself over head and prepared to dive a hard force struck him down like before, dropping him from the air. His lips raised into a bloody snarl. 'It's that boy, Stiles.' His train of thought was broken as a searing feeling overtook his back, the result of Derek's claw. He rolled hard into the ground, his crushing weight causing Derek to release his grip, and narrowly missed a series of wolfsbane bullets, two grazing his side. His flesh stung from the effects of silver and the wolfsbane tips.

Chris panicked as he and Victoria rushed to reload. The beast in front of them hunched back on its hind legs and he could tell that he was preparing to lunge straight at them. With that kind of speed if they didn't reload soon he and his wife would both be dead. He slammed the clip just in time to see Peter's legs push him off. 'Shit.'

He could tell from the movement next to him that his wife he only just finished reloading too. Chris braced himself to shield his wife and daughter with his body when a scream tore into his ears. The pain from the sound so great he couldn't even focus on Peter.

Fangs bared Peter prepared to taste his enemies flesh once again when a shrill noise split his head apart and stopped him in his tracks. Behind him Scott and Derek were writhing in agony from the sound as well. Stiles felt like his head was going to explode. The only thing his hyperactive mind could think about was getting the hell away from here.

**Pooft**

Suddenly he was back at the clearing with his Jeep. 'I must've teleported on instinct.' His head still hurt but the intense noise was gone, though he could still hear it in this distance. With three already dead their fight against the Alpha wasn't going too well. He prepared to go back when an idea sprang into his head. He had no idea what that sound was but it had given him the perfect opening. Climbing behind the wheel of his Jeep the engine roared to life as he turned the key. "I'm so sorry baby," he said to his trusty Jeep. Determination clear on his face he put her in gear and slammed his foot down on the gas.

**Pooft**

It had been about a minute and the sound hadn't let up put Peter swore he suddenly heard the sound of an engine and that those were headlights in front of him. Headlights that were coming rapidly closer until they ran straight into him. He couldn't will the air to return to his body as the pressure crushed his rib cage and pinned him against a tree. Just as suddenly as it came the heavy object was gone. He thinks he heard the first sound stop but he was in far too much pain to be sure.

Stiles returned his Jeep to it's parking spot and headed back to the fight all in an instant. Upon his second jump back to the house he was relieved to hear the excruciating noise had stopped. Looking around he saw that everyone was recovering from the onslaught on their ears.

Derek was the first to make his way towards his uncle. Though trying to block out the sound he had opened his eyes just in time to see Stiles and his Jeep careening towards the Alpha wolf and sending him through the air, smashing him against a thick oak. A bloody, gurgling figure was slumped ahead of him. The damage from Stiles' blow had forced Peter back into his human form. A growl built up in his throat as his rage grew from all of his uncle's actions. He wanted to finish this.

"Derek, wait!"

He heard the desperate pleas of Scott behind him as he saw Derek's claws come out but he ignored them. All he could think of was the body he found when he had come looking for Laura. The smoke in his lungs from the fire caused by Kate. He had to be the one to finish this.

"Derek?" a cautious Stiles called after him. Stiles mentally prepared himself to teleport Derek away if he had to so his friend could still have his chance at normal life but a sharp sensation in his arm and chest threw him off balance. The uneasy feeling his magic gave him when his body was at it's limit was coursing through him now.

'Shit! I probably cracked something from the impact.' He lifted his arm to test it out, the pain went down his forearm. 'There's no way I can jump now. '

"Scott! Run!"

"Derek please don't do this! We had a deal!" Scott brought himself up and forced his feet to move him as fast as he could.

Derek finally reached his uncle. He could hear Scott's footsteps pounding behind him. Before him Peter glared at him with cocky eyes. "You won't be able to do this. You're not ready to be an Alpha!" he spat at his nephew.

"Arrrghh!" Derek screamed out all of his fury as he clawed out his uncle's neck, watching the life drop out of his eyes. His body burned as the title of Alpha became his.

Stiles watched heartbroken for his friend as he dropped to his knees when Derek's hand came down, eliminating his chance to become human again."Oh hell," he heard his father say as he ran past him over to practically his other son. Derek turned to face them all and flashed them his newly gained blood crimson eyes. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he took in the look of power and control that was coming off him.

"How could you?!"

Stiles tore his eyes away from Derek to see his father restraining his best friend who was trying to reach Derek in full werewolf form. The new alpha's face held a gaze of indifference but Stiles, who had been closer to those eyes than anyone, swore he could see guilt hiding behind the red.

The sound of a cocking rifle snapped all their attention. Chris Argent stood, gun aimed Derek and Scott. "This wasn't part of our agreement Derek."

"Well, things change."

"I can't have another murderous Alpha and a rogue wolf running around the town," he prepared to fire.

"Now wait just a minute!" The Sheriff stepped in front of Scott to block him from the Argents point of view, hands out trying to appear as peaceful as possible. "Scott's an innocent bystander in all of this who, by the way, helped you. There's no need for any of this."

"I'm sorry Sheriff but we have a code we have to follow, and you promised not to interfere. Now please move out of the way."

"Like Derek said, things changes. Now put the gun down and lets all go home."

"Sheriff, move, don't make me do this."

"Chris this is your choice, you've lost enough, just walk away from this." He slowly lowered his hands towards his own gun.

Sorrow broke through Chris' eyes. "I'm sorry."

Deep sadness tore through his heart to have to do this but the man became an obstacle, and he had a code to follow to make sure his loving wife and daughter stayed safe. He pulled the trigger. A shot echoed out. The man in front of him swayed from the bullet, and then slumped to the ground.

Stiles felt his whole body turn to ice. His dad, the man he looked up to, who spoiled him with french fries and milkshakes, cheered for him even though he was on the bench during lacrosse and dragged him home in the middle of the night when he was up to no good, was laying there, not moving. "No, no, no, no, no," he kept willing for his dad to get up. His dad always got up. Yet still, he wouldn't move. He saw Chris Argent move again and streams of anger and hate rose hot in his throat. His magic flared with his anger, still tinged with that feeling, fighting against him. For once in his life Stiles wish he had a more lethal power that could tear the man in two.

Just as Chris took aim at Scott to fire a second shot a wrenching feeling bloomed in his chest. It felt like something was constricting his heart. Derek noticed the hunter's eyes go wide with panic. Something looked very wrong. Chris held a hand to chest like he was trying to remove something. His jaw clenched as a tremor wracked his his body. The werewolf's eyebrows knotted together in confusion trying to figure out what was going on. Looking past the man he noticed Stiles usually sweet brown eyes, alight with nothing but hate at the suffering figure. He also noticed something else strange, where Stiles' hand should be was instead distorted space. From the rift it looked like something was dripping out- He looked from Chris clutching his chest and back to Stiles's eyes of hate. 'Oh no!'

"Stiles!" Derek rushed towards the hurt teen. 'I can't let Stiles become a killer like this. I can't let him go down this path!'

Chris was trying to catch his breath but the feeling was unbearable. It was like something was squeezing the life right out of him and he felt himself slipping into the darkness. His body wavered and then he hit the ground, mirroring the man across from him.

"Daddy!" Allison rushed to her father's aide

Derek reached his brunette and wrapped him in a tight hug, embracing him as with as much warmth as he could. "I'm sorry Stiles. I'm so so sorry. It's ok. Don't do this. I'm here," he cooed gently into his hair. "Don't be like him, please. Please Stiles let it go. Just let it go."

Hearing Derek's voice crack snapped Stiles out of his trance. He didn't know what happened, just that during the anger coursing through him at Chris he suddenly felt something warm a pulsing in his hand. Something he just wanted to crush and squeeze the life out hoping it would make him feel better. Sinking into the warmth from Derek's body he felt all of his anger leave him and was replaced with empty sorrow. Lifting his hand up behind Derek he noticed it was covered in dark red liquid, almost like blood. He heard Allison's cries behind him, and instantly knew what he had done. Past his bloodied hand he saw his best friend hunched over the body of his father, Scott shaking with sobs, and felt his hot tears come on too. He trembled against Derek. He didn't have the energy to move.

"His heart's still beating, but very weak. I strongly suggest you take this chance to leave and let all of this go. It's over."

Victoria looked up from where she was holding her husband's face at the man embracing the Sheriff's son. He didn't turn around to look at her, just stroking his hand down the back of the crying boy. She looked over to see her daughter's boyfriend crying over the Sheriff, and Allison crying over her father. She realized that Derek was right. There had been enough bloodshed. tonight. She needed to take her family home. "Lets go Allison, we need to get your father to a hospital."

Derek held onto Stiles as tight as he could while he let everything go. He silently wished he knew a way to make all of this ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, hope you all liked and enjoyed! Leave a review and tell me what you think. Going to start getting into some season 2/3 stuff soon now which I can't wait to start writing.


	11. Getting Used to It

Fall.

**Pooft.**

Fall.

**Pooft.**

Fall.

Stiles had been watching the coin disappear and reappear in front of him in an endless loop for about ten minutes now. He was sitting on top a perch of an old building downtown that gave him a view of the whole city. It was one of his favorite places to come and think.

He felt more than saw Derek come up behind him. The two had spent so much time together over the last three months he could just tell. More Derek's own doing than his. Stiles had been content to just sit and fade away from existence but Derek had been there constantly to nudge him along. Through planning his dad's funeral, dealing with the endless outpour of condolences, the pitied stares, taking care of the house and other pieces of his dad's estates, attempting to stay inside all day, Derek had been right there. When Stiles asked him about it while they were out at a movie one night the older man simply gave a quiet, "You're not going to end up like me," and scooted closer. 

"Hey," Derek said as he sat down on the ledge.

 

"Hey," Stiles gave back, resting his head on the firm shoulder. 

"That's new." Derek became mesmerized by the looping coin.

"Yea." Watching the coin loop was simple for Stiles. Let his brain just doze out without the need to work.

"Have you been practicing?" From what Derek could remember, and he tried to remember as much on the subject as he could, Stiles powers didn't work the way he was watching. He distinctly remembered, after a farfetched but hopeful suggestion on killing the Alpha from Scott, how Stiles explained to them that his power only stretched to teleporting himself, others with him, and objects he'd held long enough directly to him. So the coin shouldn't be falling over and over in front of them. It should be sitting directly in his hand.

"Not really," Stiles sounded far off. Derek turned a little to see him better at the change of tone. He saw sad thoughts tinging the edge of his eyes. He waited to see if Stiles would say anymore. This was Stiles so he didn't have to wait long. 

"It's sort of like a gift. A very, twisted gift," Stiles said as the coin stopped looping through space and fell to the ground below. A part of Derek pined that it was gone.

"When faerie kids lose both their parents we get a sort of......inheritance. More magic. It amps our powers. There's a name for it." Derek watches as Stiles flexes his hand, like he can almost see the magic in his hand he's talking about.

"It's called Hera's Sorrow," Stiles laughs bitterly at the name, "and it's the one Faerie Defense I'd hoped to never really find out about, even if I was already halfway there."

Derek frowned at that. The fact that this was something Stiles had been dreading for a long time ever since the passing of his mother. It was like a constant fear in the back of his mind.

"It takes a while to get used to, the extra power. My magic felt like a second skin before. Now? Now it's like I have a second set of arms I don't know what to do with. I have to get used to it all over again. My body has to get used to it again. A few weeks ago I almost blew this poor house apart because I couldn't control all the extra energy and make my jump smooth. There was just so much....motion from all my molecules, all at once."

Derek made a sound of understanding in the back of his throat as he slid his hand over his companion's. From what he'd noticed over the last two months that all made a lot of sense. Before when Stiles teleported it was almost undetectable besides the tiniest "Pooft", like he almost ceased to be and the came into being again. Now he could hear it, see it more clearly. It was like Stiles molecules ripped apart more violently, with a silvery "Fzzzpt" ringing through the air, and reappearing the same way. A few times the areas around had taken damage during from the transfer, but other than some cracks in cement or chipped wood it was nothing serious. Then there was that time he had caught Stiles sweaty with the surrounding air practically shimmering one night in the woods and he'd been far to embarrassed to try and explain that one so he just teleported away. Derek had looked it up for himself though and found out it was 'fairy dust'. The magical aura fairies gave off that they usually hide from supernatural eyes. Something Stiles shouldn't have to hide until he's older. The knowledge made Derek's heart hurt even more. Not only had he lost both his parents, but he was also, in a supernatural way, being forced to grow up. 

"It's kind of like a present of reassurance to make sure you can take care of yourself." The older wolf rubbed small circles in the back of the hand encased in his.

Stiles didn't see it that way right now though. "More like a constant reminder that I'm all alone." There was anger in his words. Anger that fizzled out as warmth took his lips. Derek kissed him deep and hard until they both needed air.

"You're not alone." The soft words were ironclad coming from Derek's lips. The young fae bowed his head in embarrassment, but the wolf was having none of it, raising his head by the chin and claiming his affections lips again. 

"Thank you." Stiles gazed into the usually intense eyes. He saw so much warmth and caring there. All of it directed towards him. "I'll try to remember that."

"You just have to remember to keep living for those who can't anymore. It's not the easiest thing to do, but you'll pull yourself back together and turn out fine in the end."  
Stiles snorted. "Like you?" 

Derek feigned an indignant huff on behalf of his character. He was glad Stiles' sense of sarcasm was steadily returning. For the last month and a half he had tried everything to respark Stiles' curiousity, and gift for conversation. At one point he had practically begged Stiles to come with him investigate the strange murder of a young couple in a trailer near the edge of the woods.

"Let the police handle it." Was the only response he got. 

"School starts back next week. Think you're ready?" Cause Derek could remember his first attempt to go back to school after the fire. He felt so disconnected from everyone, everything. He only tried because Laura had begged him to, wanting to try and still give him a normal high school experience.

"Yea. Scott comes back home today so that's a big help. I'm not looking forward to walking down the halls and getting all sad stares and hushed whispers. I mean usually the stares are because I've done something ridiculous to embarrass myself or Finstock. It'll be nice to have my best bud there, ya know?"

"Guess you won't be needing me around anymore." Stiles' head snapped up at Derek. He knew what that tone was. Derek was upset because Scott came back today. He thought that he wouldn't be able to spend anymore time with Stiles. 

"Hey just because Scott's coming back doesn't mean we won't get to hangout. Sure it might be harder, and it might happen a little less but I'm not just leaving you behind after all you've helped me with."

"You say that now, pretty soon you two are going to fall back into your normal routine of being best friends forever and no one's going to stand in your way," Derek argued.

"I won't stop hanging out with you, I promise, but you did kind of destroy said best friend's only chance of turning back to normal. That makes things more than pretty awkward."

"I told you," Derek huffed. He dragged his hands over his face as if he could wipe off the guilt, "I got blinded by revenge, the power, my family's legacy! I'm sorry." Stiles' words rung with a truth he'd been trying to avoid all summer.

"I'm not the one you need to be explaining that too." Stiles dusted off his pants as he got up. He placed a hand on Derek's solid shoulder. "I'm going to head home now. Scott will be there pretty soon. I'll see you later, ok?" Derek just made a low sound that Stiles took as a yes. 

**Fzzzpt.**

Calling the room at the McCall house "his room" still didn't feel comfortable with Stiles, just like calling the house home felt foreign. Even the key that he had his own copy of long before moving in felt heavier now. The click of the front door snapped him out of thoughts. He shuffled into the hall just in time to see his friends head peak through the door. The sheepish smile was just as innocent as he remembered, and the jolly twinkle in his eyes that had been missing since that night shone through a little. Scott gave a small, "Hey". 

"Hey", Stiles threw back with a grin of his own. 

Scott turned his gaze to his nervously shuffling feet. He struggled to find the words to say even though he had thought about them the whole ride over. 

"Stiles I'm really sorry that-" his words were cut off as his friend bounded down the stairs and embraced him in tight hug.

"Don't worry about. I understand." Stiles hadn't seen Scott in over three months. Not long after the funeral he had left to stay with his grandfather in Nevada until the end of summer. Some had looked down upon his absence feeling he had abandoned his best friend in his time of need. Derek in particular had been furious at Scott for going, though feeling guilty at the same time. Stiles had to admit that it stung a little not to have his best bud there to help him cope, but he could sympathize with his reasons.

He placed both hands on his friend's shoulders and looked him in the eyes to make sure each word was understood. "You needed some time away. You had to pull yourself back together before you could help me out. I get it."

"But-""No buts! You know my dad thought the world of you. I lost my dad that night, but you lost a father, and your humanity. I'm sorry."

The tears started spilling over from the young wolf's eyes, crystal drops of guilt. He squeezed Stiles back tight.

"You shouldn't be the one apologizing you doff."

"There's no way I'm the doff cause that'd mean you'd have to be the brains."

Scott barked out a laugh as he began to let go but something made him stiffen. A scent. He leaned in and inhaled his friend's smell again. 

"Umm, dude, wolf manners." Stiles hoped the time away in Nevada hadn't made his friend go feral. Next thing he knew Scott shoved him away out of their embrace.

"Why were you with Derek?!" A low growl followed. 

'Oh shit,' Stiles thought as he felt his heart race.

"How can you hang around him after what he did?!" Scott was using his rage to fight back the whimpers that wanted to come out. It felt like he had been betrayed by his best friend.

"Look I know what he did was wrong, but that's something the two of you need to work out. You left Scott. I was a mess. Sure Melissa tried to be there for me as much as she could but you know how crazy things get at work for her. It was just me, by myself. In his own stiff faced, grumbling way, Derek helped me through most of this when there was no way I could've done it alone." 

Scott looked down at his feet and shuffled uneasily again. His brother was right. Scott had left, and Stiles had to deal with the emotional aftermath of the Sheriff's death alone. Thinking of it made guilt pool in his stomach.

"You're right. I'm sorry I have no room to talk. I do need to talk to Derek about what he did. I'm just not ready yet. I don't know if I can even at look him without feeling the urge to rip his damn beard off."

A soft hand patted Scott. "Let's take it one step at time buddy. First let’s get you settled back in, then we'll worry about beard domination later."

The small smile on Scott's face grew two sizes. 

"Thanks man." Scott couldn't believe how amazing his best friend was. Stiles had forgiven him for running off but he still felt terrible. He remembered how hard his mom tried to convince him to stay and be there for Stiles and how much it hurt not to be able to tell her the whole truth, which made him want to leave even more. Now he wished he had stayed. Stiles really was his family and family came first. He vowed to make Stiles feel as welcomed and loved as possible from now on so that he wouldn't need comfort from Derek at all.

**Author's Note:**

> SOOOOO happy that I finally get to post on here and share my story with you guys. I'm honored. It's still a work in progress. Don't be shy and let me know what you think.


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